SPOILER JUNKIE: SPOILERS FOR HOT TV

TV, MUSIC, MOVIES &ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

ABC Family’s mystery drama delivered on all fronts Tuesday, with a season-best 3.3 million total viewers at 8 p.m. That is a 1 million jump from its penultimate episode and is the most-watched summer finale for Pretty Little Liars to date….READ MORE

SPOILER JUNKIE: SPOILERS FOR HOT TV

TV, MUSIC, MOVIES &ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Who couldn’t sleep last night because of the mind-blowing summer finAle?!

You all should be raising your hands right now, because that was one intensely twisted episode of Pretty Little Liars. After learning that (Spoiler Alert!) Ezra is A, we went through a wide range of emotions: Shock, anger, heartbreak, fear, confusion and, of course, complete and utter betrayal. (How could you, Mr. Fitz?!)…READ MORE

SPOILER JUNKIE: SPOILERS FOR HOT TV

TV, MUSIC, MOVIES &ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

‘Pretty Little Liars’ Summer Finale Recap: ‘Now You See Me, Now You Don’t’

Without fail our weekly dose of “Pretty Little Liars” always leaves our jaws dropped, and last night’s summer finale was no exception. As the name suggests, “Now You See Me, Now You Don’t” was filled with magic, deception and that time our hearts were….READ MORE

‘Castle’ finale kills one, maybe two cops and exposes a dark secret

Season 3 of “Castle” promised to end with death, but we may have just gotten more than we bargained for.

The first big departure came somewhat predictably in the last act — after a game-changing revelation, naturally — but the real shocker was reserved for the final moments, when another series regular was seemingly felled.

But how did we get there? We start, as we do with most noteworthy “Castle” outings, with looming mystery of Beckett’s (Stana Katic) murdered mom. She goes to meet the mystery killer’s imprisoned associate Hal Lockwood –as she so often does — only to find that he’s been transferred to less secure facility where another accessory the conspiracy/murder, Gary McAllister, awaits his silencing execution.

Since even people in prison for murder can still be tried for another murder, Lockwood has a late-night hearing where something looks suspicious.

Now, did we accidentally stumble into a cold war thriller, or did the season finale of “Castle” actually include a helicopter breaking a gangster out of a New York City court room? It sure did. And with the closest known associate to Johanna Beckett’s murderer on the lamb, the hunt pushes Beckett back into the danger zone.

This does not sit well with Castle (Nathan Fillion). He tries to get his partner to back off, but she snaps. They fight, he even brings up the cuddles and unspoken-of kiss and then they appear to sever their partnership — but it can’t possibly last. They did that last finale.

While all of this is going down, Montgomery (Ruben Santiago-Hudson) makes all sorts of foreboding comments, fatherly references and general red flag type statements that lead to the correct conclusion that he’s going to die. What it did not prepare us for was the revelation that he’s been part of the Johanna Beckett conspiracy from the beginning.

Oh yeah. That’s right. We’ll wait for you to affix your jaw to the rest of your face.

Turns out Montgomery was an unwilling accessory to the evil-doing. He accidentally shot another cop, made the wrong friends and ended up employing the woman who’s mother he was tangentially involved in murdering. He promised the still-unnamed villain he’d keep an eye on her, in exchange for her safety.

But he’s been doing a bad job, so a freed Lockwood pays him a visit and makes the situation clear: either Beckett goes down or the entire Montgomery clan gets murdered.

He arranges to meet with Beckett — while Esposito (Jon Huertas) and Ryan (Seamus Dever) do some sleuthing of their own, turning up evidence that puts Montgomery in the middle of the crimey web. Ryan is the first to point out the damning info. Esposito gets real mad at him for questioning the chief. The world’s shortest bro fight ensues, and Esposito concedes that they need to tell Beckett.

But she’s too busy having her world turned upside down by a confession from Montgomery, who hasn’t sold her out at all. He’s drawn Lockwood to the hanger to kill him and spare Beckett and his family. Only he makes two very big mistakes in the process.

1.) He does not tell Beckett who killed her mother, saying she won’t be able to control or protect herself in possession of the information, so she can’t have it. Lame.

2.) He dies.

He did get forgiven before he went though. It’s sweet, but we bet she would have really forgiven him if he’d told her who the killer was. Beckett, Castle, Esposito and Ryan agree that the truth about Montgomery never come out. He’ll die a hero.

And at his hero’s funeral, Beckett even delivers a eulogy… for two!

We see her in the cross-hairs, just as Castle spots a laser sight, and though he dives to save her, she takes a bullet to the chest. There’s blood everywhere, and her eyes roll back into her head, leaving her presumably dead and us extremely anxious until some unknown date in September when the show returns.

Could Beckett really be dead, though? Of course not. Unless there are some plans to kill off most of the remaining cast and reboot the series as a multi-generational “Cagney and Lacey” starring Susan Sullivan and Molly Quinn, she’ll be just fine.

They kissed. They held each other tightly as they nearly died together in a freezer. They shared a giant Los Angeles hotel suite that, despite its roominess, couldn’t contain the sexual tension. And in Monday’s finale (10/9c, ABC) all of those issues will be addressed.

“Both characters lay their cards on their table,” creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe tells TVGuide.com. “[They] come to an understanding about the issues that they’re dealing with and the ways in which each of them were approaching the relationship. There’s a knockdown, drag-out fight where Castle’s like, ‘Look, what do we mean to each other?'”

Unfortunately, this meeting of the minds comes just as Beckett once again goes down the rabbit hole chasing her mother’s killer. When sniper Hal Lockwood (Max Martini) — who killed Beckett’s last solid lead earlier this season — escapes from prison, the case is re-opened. And some of the new information hits far too close to home.

“This is Beckett as her rawest,” Marlowe says. “Not everything that she thought was true is actually true. She has to confront some very serious issues in her own life and in her relationships when the truth comes out. She doesn’t really like what she finds, but she’s going to keep going, even though it puts her in danger.”

And that danger isn’t just limited to Beckett. Marlowe confirms that before the season ends, one major character will be in a body bag, and he says the early Season 4 renewal made it possible to take such risks in the storytelling.

“Knowing that we’re not in a position where we have to resolve everything and that we can push ourselves into deeper mystery and more complicated relationships allowed us to embrace this kind of story,” Marlowe says. “It was something we started looking at early in the season, and then after we were renewed, I felt very comfortable moving forward with it.

“It’s always uncomfortable for any show creator to have to end a relationship with somebody they’ve created along the way,” Marlowe continues. “But sometimes to challenge your characters for the continuation of the show, it’s an important thing to do.”

While we’re fairly certain the show wouldn’t kill its female lead, Marlowe insists that Beckett’s recklessness is a major concern. “Everybody knows that in pursuing this case, she’s basically running in the way of the bad guys and it’s going to get her killed,” Marlowe says. “So everybody that cares about her is just trying to protect her. At the end of the day she cares too much about this case to be protected. [She’s] pretty much pushing everybody away.”

Castle‘s Season 3 finale airs Monday at 10/9c on ABC.

Exclusive: Marvel and ABC Team for Castle-Inspired Graphic Novel

Marvel Entertainment and ABC Studios have teamed up to create a hardcover graphic novel inspired by the ABC’s Castle, TVGuide.com has learned. Titled Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm, it’s the first partnership between Marvel and ABC since Disney, which owns ABC, acquired Marvel last year.

The book focuses on Derrick Storm, the protagonist of Richard Castle’s most popular series of novels. Viewers may recall that Castle (Nathan Fillion) began following Beckett (Stana Katic) for inspiration for a new series of books after he made the decision to kill off Derrick Storm, with whom he’d become bored.

“We are incredibly excited to be partnering with Marvel to bring Richard Castle’s early literary works to life,” Castle creator and executive producer Andrew W. Marlowe said. “It’s a great way to expand the Castle universe for all our fans.”

The 112-page graphic novel will be written by Brian Michael Bendis (Avengers, Ultimate Comics Spider-Man) and Kelly Sue DeConnick (Captain America and The Secret Avengers). Lan Medina (Fables) will handle the interior art; Carlo Pagulayan (Planet Hulk) created the cover art, which can be seen below as well as in Monday’s Season 3 finale of Castle (10/9c, ABC).

This is the latest branding experiment ABC has tried with Castle. The network has already teamed with Hyperion Books to publish two novels — Heat Wave and Naked Heat — that parallel Castle’s work with Beckett, the inspiration for the author’s heroine Nikki Heat. A third book, Heat Rises,is due in the fall. ABC also launched RichardCastle.Net in April.

Richard Castle’s Deadly Storm will be available in stores in September 2011.

The first season of “Glee” has come to an end, and I have three initial thoughts: 1) I’m not kidding about that Queen episode, Ryan Murphy; 2) If Jane Lynch doesn’t get an Emmy there is no justice in this world; and 3) I started the season with pretty high expectations, and “Glee” surpassed them by a mile.

Regionals: After discovering that Sue will be a judge at Regionals, our heroes immediately start bewailing the Glee Club’s demise. The other judges on the “celebrity” panel are a still-hilarious Josh Groban, Olivia Newton-John (who’s dead to Sue), and news anchor Rod Remington. “Aural Intensity” (…really?) is first up, performing a Groban/ONJ mashup that we regrettably don’t get to see.

Inspired by the kids’ performance in the beginning of the season, Will chooses a Journey medley as New Directions’ piece. Seriously, what have they been rehearsing all season? Songs for when they sing at the mall and retirement homes? (Ah, choir memories…) They begin with “Faithfully,” performed with beautiful harmonies and powerful vocals by Rachel and Finn, who pulls a “Cutting Edge” and confesses his love to Rachel seconds before they go on. Aww!

The group moves into an energetic “Any Way You Want It” and “Touchin’ Lovin’ Squeezin’.” They close with “Don’t Stop Believin’,” the song that hooked me on the show from the beginning (well, that and Emma’s joke about Rachel’s lack of gag reflex, which proved this wasn’t just a musical version of “The Secret Life of the American Teenager”). Puck and Santana share a verse, and Puck gets a big cheer from the extremely enthusiastic crowd.

New Directions puts on a tough act to follow, but Vocal Adrenaline is more than up to the task. In a blatant (and successful) attempt to win my favor, they perform “Bohemian Rhapsody,” with Jonathan Groff absolutely killing on lead vocals. Say what you will about Jesse, but the man can SING. They’re certainly more choreographed than New Directions, which I suppose you can say lacks soul (Rachel certainly believes it does — or at least that Jesse does), but you’ve gotta admit it was an awesome performance.

At judging, Sue initially doesn’t care who comes in first or second, but has “a very strong opinion about who comes in third.” Rod votes for Vocal Adrenaline based on the fact that he partied “hard” with Freddie Mercury back in the 70’s — you know, when labels weren’t so important. ONJ votes for Aural Intensity, since they’re the only group that chose to “honor her in song.” It’s unfortunate — I can tell she’s funny, but without the ability to form realistic facial expressions, ONJ just can’t land the punch lines as hard as she’d otherwise be able to.

At any rate, Josh Groban thinks New Directions had heart. ONJ disagrees — not only were they SO 2009 with their “ragtag bunch of misfits” brand of tokenism, but they dressed like a “poor person’s school” to boot. Plus, everyone knows brunettes have no place in show business. Ha! (And ouch.)

Sue actually steps up to remind everyone that they’re ragging on kids, but ONJ doesn’t relent — talent is talent, and Sue doesn’t even have any, for that matter. She’s no celebrity — she just tries hard. Ouch. Rod agrees, calling Sue and the New Directions kids “underachievers with delusions of grandeur.” Double ouch. Even Josh Groban is confused as to why Sue’s a judge in the first place when they’re all supposed to be celebrities. Snaaaap.

Results time! Sue: “Thank you all for coming. As you all know, Glee Club is such an important- and I honestly can’t even finish that sentence. So let’s just get to it.” The “not at all stupidly-named Aural Intensity” are runners-up, while the top prize goes to Vocal Adrenaline. New Directions doesn’t even place. Aww. I hope they learned a valuable lesson about how Queen is always the right decision.

The Aftermath: Stripped of their choir room, the Glee kids all gather in the auditorium to thank Will for the myriad ways he’s helped them all. It’s seriously touching, especially when Finn basically calls Will his surrogate father. They “won” because Will was their teacher (cheesy but sweet), and thanks to him, Glee Club won’t ever die. Um, except in the literal sense? And they sing a very appropriate “To Sir, With Love.” Even Santana is crying! And so is Sue as she watches from the back of the auditorium.

Sue won’t admit it to Will, but she actually voted for New Directions, putting Vocal Adrenaline in last place, even! She tells him that she doesn’t want a world where she can’t constantly ridicule his hair, or make fun of him for “tearing up more than Michael Landon on a sweeps week episode of ‘Little House on the Prairie.'” Ha!

And so Sue’s demanded that Figgins give Glee Club another year, telling Will she admires him and his work with the kids (and relishes the thought of another year of constantly besting him). One last threat to puke in his mouth as he thanks her, and she’s off. Man, I’m definitely going to miss my weekly Sue fix this summer. Can we get all the local FOX stations to air a “Sue’s Corner” each week, at the very least?

After telling the kids the good news, Will treats them to a song of their own: “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.” Random choice, but very pretty. He plays a … ukulele? And Puck accompanies him on normal-sized guitar and sings backup. I can’t wait to explore the secondary characters even more next season — one of the show’s biggest strengths is the depth of its roster, and there’s still plenty more to be mined there. Puck and Santana both have fantastic and underused singing voices, for example.

A Gleek is Born: Quinn goes into labor right after the New Directions performance, bringing Mercedes and Puck to the hospital along with her mom, who’s taking Quinn back now that her dad is kicked out for having an affair with some “tattooed freak.” It was kind of cheesy and obvious, but I really loved the cuts back and forth between “Bohemian Rhapsody” and Quinn’s labor. I mean, if you’re gonna do it, you’d better really go for it, right? I also loved Puck during the whole ordeal, listening to Quinn yelling about how much he sucks and looking super grossed out when he sees the baby coming.

Based on the flashback we got of Beth’s conception, the “you suck” is totally deserved — Puck is basically pouring wine coolers down Quinn’s throat, assuring her he’s got protection and that she’s not just another hookup. Not that Quinn wasn’t responsible for it too, but Puck kind of does suck. Or did suck, at least. Seems like he’s cleaned up his act a little since then.

Beth is a beautiful little girl in the way that only newborn TV babies can be, and she’s snapped up right away by a loving mom: Shelby! As Shelby told Rachel after she asked Shelby to come co-coach at McKinley, she needs more in life than just coaching Glee Club — her experience with Rachel helped her to realize that. She doesn’t want to miss out on the chance for a family again, and so she adopts Beth.

Hmm. While I’m certainly happy with the development, I’m a little skeptical that there wasn’t already an adoption arranged since that was the plan all along, and I’m surprised that Shelby was able to adopt so quickly. But on a show where characters randomly break into song, I can’t really complain about the lack of realism, can I?

Will vs. The Dentist: Will visits Emma early in the episode for guidance on how to deal with Sue. Emma provides said guidance, but also mentions that she’s been seeing her dentist. Hmm. On the one hand, it makes sense that she’d want to date someone who cleans teeth for a living. On the other hand, it seems like she wouldn’t want to date someone who puts his hands in strangers’ mouths all day. Maybe that’s why they haven’t done it yet (and seriously, I can’t believe Will asked).

After Regionals, Emma gets into a screaming match with Higgins when he gives the choir room to the “Mock UN” You know, I probably still wouldn’t know Azerbaijan existed if I hadn’t represented it in Model UN. Will’s given up on Glee Club, but Emma still wants to fight. You know, for the kids’ sake. Not for Will. Will: “I love you, Emma. There. I finally said it. And you love me, and dentist or no dentist, this thing isn’t over between us.” And he kisses her! Oh, good — I’m glad that’s ending on a positive note.

Odds and Ends:

I’m pretty okay with the Vocal Adrenaline win. Their performance was pretty freaking sweet, and this way the Glee kids have something to work toward next year!

How did the audience get glow sticks during Vocal Adrenaline’s performance? It kinda reminded me of when I went to see “Xanadu” on Broadway, where they hand out glow sticks as you go in to wave around during the final song. Someone in the balcony dropped theirs, and it hit me on the nose! Try explaining that at work when people ask how you cut your face.

Maybe the Glee writers could spend the summer actually writing “I’m a Winner and You’re Fat.” I’d totally buy it, especially if it came packaged with a copy of Sue’s journal!

Sue’s Corner:

“I know you think I’m heartless, Will, and you may have a point. I spend large segments of each day picturing you choking on food, and I recently contacted an exotic animal dealer because I had a very satisfying dream that the two of us went to a zoo and I shoved your face into one of those pink inflamed monkey butts that weeps lymph.”

“…Your hair looks like briar patch. I keep expecting racist animated Disney characters to pop up and start singing songs about livin’ on the bayou.”

“It’s as barren as me in here, Will.”

Music:

“Faithfully/Any Way You Want It/Touchin’ Lovin’ Squeezin’/Don’t Stop Believin'” by Journey, performed by New Directions

“Bohemian Rhapsody” by Queen, performed by Vocal Adrenaline

“To Sir, With Love” theme by Lulu, performed by New Directions

“Somewhere Over the Rainbow” from “The Wizard of Oz,” performed by Will and Puck

‘The Good Wife’ Season Finale ‘Running’: TV Recap

In the grand tradition of season finales, we end with a cliffhanger. Will Alicia stay or will she go? We still don’t know. Neither does she.

But the episode is still a standout, with show creators Robert and Michelle King adding depth to their most intriguing characters against the backdrop of a startling legal case.

The cloak and dagger opening—in the garage of the Lockhart, Gardner building—hustles in FBI agent Lana Delaney and a covert couple, cop Jack Arkin and his wife Mindy.

Arkin has hired the firm to help him get immunity and a place in Witness Protection in exchange for ratting out his corrupt drug task force. Snotty as usual, Agent Delaney is reluctant to save him, and is especially miffed that Peter Florrick might benefit from the prosecution of one of Childs’ pet projects. To avoid even the appearance of conflict, she asks Alicia to step out.

Whereupon Alicia gets hit with another nasty swipe when she encounters Giada Cabrini, the provocative law student Will met a couple episodes ago. Giada sizes her up—and isn’t threatened.

Back in the conference room, though, it’s Kalinda who’s getting the biggest jolt, when her sometime boyfriend, Detective Burton, is fingered by Arkin as one of the corrupt cops. By the time she meets him for a drink, it’s with full suspicion.

The Florrick family is enjoying a much needed break, laughing and reminiscing at an Italian restaurant when a pol stops to congratulate Peter. Then the waitress slips him her phone number. “No thanks,” he says, “No dessert.”… READ FULL RECAP

It was couples-night on the season finale of The Good Wife: Not just Alicia and Peter and Alicia and Will, but also Will and law-student Giada, Diane and Gary Cole’s McVeigh, Kalinda and FBI agent Lana, and even Eli Gold and Peter’s mother, who proved to be two peas in a pod, give or take a little veiled antisemitism. How did you react to the Alicia-Will-Peter cliffhanger?

Me, I thought it was just dandy. I don’t mind being teased into next season, not after all the rich conversation we were given leading up to the hour’s final moments. Will had a few gulps of wine to give him the courage to call Alicia at the very moment she was to go onstage and play the Good Wife beside newly-announced States Attorney candidate Peter Florrick. That call yielded Alicia-style eloquence that was thoroughly believable, even under her stressed circumstance.

“Show me the plan,” she said bluntly. Will was caught off-guard. A romantic single guy, he was hoping the allure of sweet talk and nostalgia for What Never Was But Might Still Be would prove sufficient to persuade Alicia to come a-runnin’. But Alicia has learned: “Poetry is easy; it’s the parent-teacher conferences that are hard.” In other words, put up or shut up, buddy; I’m in the midst of a life here, and I’m open to suggestions, but you’ve got to be serious with me. This is the kind of thing that lifts The Good Wife into another level of domestic drama; you just don’t see adults grappling with such a familiar nighttime-soap topic with the sort of terse realism that somehow makes the entire scenario seem even more romantic.

Well, let’s get down to business. You don’t book Amy Acker for a guest spot and not expect her to prove to be significant to the plot. Sure enough, the former Dollhouse/Angel co-star played the wife of a cop, clients of Lockhart, Gardner. Her husband was killed while in the process of exposing police corruption. The case managed to get Kalinda to do some investigative work with the FBI agent, leggy Lana, and their investigations included examining each other’s eyes closely, in an amorous manner. When episode director James Whitemore, Jr., and a Good Wife camera shot contrived to hide what we presumed was a kiss between them, the coyness was punctuated by a very funny-in-context line from Will, who called Kalinda soon after and said, “You sound like you’ve been running.”

Did I think The Good Wife would wait until next season before having Cary, who only last week joined the States Attorney’s office, go toe-to-toe with Alicia? Foolishly, I did. Happily, the producers plunged right in, with a crackling deposition scene in which Matt Czuchry was so intelligently oily, I thought for a moment Logan Huntzberger had reinhabited his body and he was looking around for a Rory Gilmore to seduce.

And the characters just kept on coming. Squeezing Gary Cole’s gun expert McVeigh back in to provide antagonistic testimony only to be met with equal antagonism by Diane ended up turning the pair on. Having Alicia’s mother-in-law Jackie pay a visit to Pastor Isaiah and tell him to back off from her son with all this God-talk was hard to beat… and then it was beaten, by the scene between Jackie and Eli (“Mr. Golden, is it?”), in which the two sparring partners (the WASP-ish matriarch, the Jewish wiseguy) realized they had to unite to get Peter to announce his candidacy quickly.

But in all this, let’s not short-change the stars. Chris Noth moved through the episode like a sleek shark. It may have looked as though his conscience was making him waver, but his killer smile and his killer instincts made sure he kept moving toward his political goal. Still, his Peter also mingled ambition with sincerity when he told Alicia, “I want to be a great [state’s attorney] and I can’t be without you.”

And Julianna Margulies’ Alicia was pulled in every direction while maintaining her mask of composure (except when sharing beer and pizza with Will — who could not giggle at the charms of pizza and Will? ). The Good Wife reminded us of Alicia’s high standards when she was repelled by the outcome of the legal case: client Amy Acker proved to be a villain, but still walked away with a half-mill settlement, thanks to Will and Diane. “At what point is our job wrong?” Alicia asked them, and yet the character never comes off as priggish or naive.

And for viewers, the bigger, unstated dramatic question — “At what point is our flirting wrong?” — remained the rapidly-beating heart of The Good Wife. Our hearts will be with it until the show returns next season.

Question: With Cary being fired on The Good Wife, are we going to see Matt Czuchry back as a series regular in season 2?

Ausiello: Yes. In fact, don’t be surprised if Czuchry’s role gets expanded next season now that he has gone to work for the enemy (a.k.a. Glenn Childs). As Czuchry reveals, Cary’s new role will allow producers to open up the show in season 2. “We’ll be able to show more of the other side, the prosecution side, which we haven’t seen that much of. It’s a great way of seeing a different perspective, as opposed to just looking at the cases through Stern Lockhart.” Next Tuesday’s season finale will give viewers a taste of what’s to come when Cary goes toe-to-toe against the firm, taking on not only Alicia but Will and Diane as well. “It’s a great set-up for next season,” says Czuchry. “It’s going to up the competition. And [taking a job with Glenn] it’s such a direct F-U to Alicia.”

Question: Any season finale scoop on Will and Alicia from The Good Wife?

Ausiello: Just as Alicia decides to try and make things work with Peter, Will tells her he wants to make a go of a relationship. Go figure.

The Good Wife: Will Alicia Choose Peter or Will?

Her husband is out of prison, but Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies) hardly has reason to celebrate. On the season finale of The Good Wife, airing Tuesday at 10/9c on CBS, Alicia must decide whether to stand by her husband Peter (Chris Noth) as he prepares to re-enter the political arena after a sex scandal.

“With Peter’s exoneration, the question will turn toward whether politics makes him that way or whether there’s something in him himself,” series co-creator and executive producer Robert King tells TVGuide.com. “With him possibly wanting to run again, Alicia faces the idea of, ‘Even if I do forgive my husband, does that mean that he will always make these same mistakes?'”

Alicia also has to figure out if her heart lies with someone else: her old law school friend and boss Will (Josh Charles). Since their passionate kiss earlier this season, however, Will has met someone else: law student Giada Cabrini (Karen Olivo). “As they’ve said, they have bad timing,” King says.

“We don’t want to be so simplistic as to say [Giada] is wrong for him, she’s kind of right for him. So the question is, will he move down this route of more commitment with another woman?”

Even if Will chooses Alicia over Giada, Alicia will have to confront new questions about Will and how different he really is (or isn’t) from Peter and her past. “Even though he’s her boss, does he cut too many ethical corners? Is he some version of her husband?” King says. “It makes her wonder about her own character. Is she always drawn toward the bad boys?”

Although the charges against Peter have been dropped, another factor in the equation is the mounting FBI investigation against Peter and rival Glenn Childs (Titus Welliver). Even worse, Kalinda (Archie Panjabi), Alicia’s co-worker and confidant, may decide to testify against both men (she used to work in the state’s attorney’s office, remember), thanks to increasing pressure from FBI agent Lana Delaney (Jill Flint).

“There will always be that tension that Glenn Childs has something on [Kalinda], but there’s also this tension now with the federal investigation. … We always find Kalinda is best when she’s caught in between,” King says. “She is someone who is more of a mercenary, she’s not committed to one side or another and so people are always pulling at her. And it’s not just career, it’s also sexually. So we’ll see a lot of push and pull regarding her sexual commitment.”

King and his co-executive producer, Michelle King, who are married, promise a definitive answer regarding Kalinda’s sexuality, a burning question among fans all season. But Robert King warns that, “like any answer, it kind of leads on to the next question.”

As for Alicia, her decision could come down to a third option: none of the above. “So much of the show announces itself as this love triangle, when in fact, maybe the best thing for Alicia altogether is to say, ‘Screw this,'” King says. “Part of her rebuilding her personality and her self-worth is this idea that she doesn’t need somebody else. That is one of the questions of this season and next season.”

‘Chuck’ season finale: A family affair

The episode was two hours full of awesome, and the season literally went out with a bang. You can’t ask for too much more, aside from maybe fewer plot holes (shhh, it’s “Chuck,” they get a pass).

Fight vs. Flight: Chuck hears Shaw at the farmers market and follows him to train station where, in a phenomenal reveal, Chuck hears a knocking on the door of a subway train and turns to see Shaw, waving at him through the window as the train pulls away. Security tapes confirm it. They track Shaw to the building where Justin is holding Ellie “for her own protection,” but in yet another awesome reveal, Sarah is able to unlock a door using the biometric scanner … because it’s a CIA base! Loving it already.

Chuck, in the meantime, is busy beating Justin up in front of his extremely shocked sister: “You just punched a person!” Oh, if only she knew. He takes off after Justin, explaining to Ellie that Justin isn’t so much her CIA handler as her evil organization handler. Aaaand they burst in on a military tribunal just as Beckman is staking her reputation on Chuck’s success as she testifies in front of a committee that wants to shut down the Intersect project. Awwwkwaaard…

And hold on to your hats, ladies and gentlemen, because SHAW is the one trash-talking the Intersect project to the military committee! Beckman is as flabbergasted as the team, at least. I would’ve been pretty bummed if she turned out to be evil. Her reluctant affection for Chuck always brightens up an episode. Shaw actually admits that he drugged Sarah, claiming it was sanctioned by the committee, but denies intending to kill her.

Shaw was a Ring double agent until Chuck shot him, supposedly, and now he’s there to shut down the Intersect project. Shaw testifies that Chuck is a) an American hero, and b) dangerously unstable through no fault of his own. Note to guys with secrets: Don’t let them linger until your girlfriend finds out in front of a military tribunal. It’s hard to leap to someone’s defense effectively unless you have accurate information!

Chuck sees Shaw flash on something during the hearing, but is accused of being crazy and paranoid when he claims Shaw is an Intersect. Unfortunately, the “throw a sharp object at an Intersect if you want to out them” test doesn’t work on Shaw (to say the least), and Chuck is taken into custody.

Casey decides to run for it before the Ring/CIA (close to being one and the same now, it seems … don’t ask me how) comes after the people he cares for (basically, Alex and her mom). Sarah: “Everything I care about is in this building.” Awww. Papa Bartowski leads Chuck out of the building remotely to help him escape, but Sarah says he needs to fight so that he’s not running forever with a bull’s-eye on his back. When Papa B. insists that Chuck leave to protect Sarah, though, she realizes she’s going to lose the fight. So … basically he’s becoming his dad. His sad, lonely dad. Once he puts the Governor on, though, he’s at least not sad, lonely and mentally deteriorating.

Sarah is called in to see Shaw, who manages to be so supremely creepy that he tricks her into assaulting him and gets her arrested, too. They even get Beckman! After convincing his dad to turn back around so they can rescue Sarah, Chuck recruits Ellie to help them track down Justin’s Ring hideout. When Ellie asks Papa B. to explain why he left them back in the day, he tells her there’s no time, but that he’ll be back to talk about it: “This is the last time I’m gonna walk away from you.” Aaaand that’s when you know he’s not going to make it out of there alive.

Chuck and Papa B. infiltrate the Ring base, where they find proof that Shaw is an Intersect. Before they can do anything with the information, Shaw finds them, takes Chuck’s Governor, and shoots Chuck’s dad to compromise Chuck’s emotions and render him incapable of fighting. God, he couldn’t have just talked about how awesome it was to bang Chuck’s girlfriend, or something? Pretty sure that would’ve worked, too. Ellie watches from the shadows as her father dies. Well, nuts. I really liked him.

A newly defeatist Chuck joins Casey and Sarah on the way to the “CIA detention facility,” i.e. “remote location where Shaw will shoot them,” convinced that there’s no one left to play hero. But Ellie, amazingly, has the presence of mind to follow the truck, recruiting Awesome and Morgan in the effort. Yay, second-string spies! Morgan in particular just continues to step up to the plate, doesn’t he?

Awesome vs. Ellie: Morgan plays Ellie’s voicemail for Awesome, and it shakes him — especially when Morgan calls him Devon. Yeah, that’s a scary sign. One drinking session with the Buy Morons later, Awesome is convinced Ellie really is cheating on him. Have a little faith in her, man! (And a little faith in yourself and your daily smoothies and foot rubs.)

Awesome’s relief at Ellie’s finally being in on the CIA secret (and being faithful after all) is quickly diminished by the realization that Ellie still doesn’t exactly know the secret. Even worse, his “pockets of missing knowledge” include any and all information about her dad. Well, I’m glad he at least was finally able to explain away his bachelor party!

Casey vs. his daughter: Casey’s a regular at the diner where his daughter works, making it pretty easy for Justin to track him there. There’s a whole lotta growling, even for Casey, as Justin not-so-subtly threatens Alex’s life. Justin: “I’ve gotta say, John, I never figured you for a dad.” Casey [before knocking him out with a napkin dispenser]: “Well, I’m not a very good one.” Way to step up now, buddy! Though kidnapping your daughter isn’t the best way to start a relationship, traditionally speaking.

After Alex beats him up a little (she’s an excellent self-defense student, natch), Casey’s able to give her the key to his Buy More locker, telling her that he’s her dad and she and her mom are in danger. She runs as he’s captured by the CIA. Or the Ring. Or whatever. Alex shows up at the Buy More with the key, where Morgan is amazingly reassuring. They find a stack of cash, passports, and other spy gear in Casey’s locker. Probably doesn’t make up for his not knowing Alex existed until recently, but still not a bad haul.

Chuck vs. Shaw: We begin the second half of the finale with a flashback to Chuck and Ellie’s childhood, where Papa B. assures them that they can fix anything if they work together, and tasks Ellie with protecting Chuck. Man, I’m pretty bummed they killed him off — I thought he added a lot to the show. Is anyone else wondering if budget issues played a role?

Awesome and Morgan sit in Casey’s car arguing about a plan as Shaw prepares to kill Casey, Chuck and Sarah. After hitting some random buttons, they manage to launch a missile into the CIA truck. Well that could’ve gone horribly awry pretty easily. But the prisoners miraculously escape without being blown up (a real testament to the efficacy of armored trucks), leaving Shaw behind with Chuck’s Governor.

Ellie is obviously upset about being out of the loop for so long, and about her dad’s death. Probably not in that order. But Chuck is able to reassure her that their dad was a hero, which goes a long way: “That’s the secret I most wanted you to know.” Awww, this is so sad! And they agree to go after Shaw and the Ring. Ellie does make Chuck promise that this will be his last mission, which is pretty fair — she doesn’t want the only family she has left putting himself in mortal danger on a regular basis. I’m actually surprised she didn’t try and lock Chuck in a padded room for the rest of his life, just to keep him safe.

They’re able to tap into the Ring security system to contact Beckman, who explains that the whole reason she’s in town is for a super-secret spy meeting, where Shaw plans to discredit her and take over. “The Five Elders,” the leaders of the Ring, will be there. Chuck and Sarah sneak in disguised as members of the Russian delegation while Morgan and Casey crack into the conference database. Actually, they mostly fight about Morgan’s having Alex’s number. Again, totally on Casey’s side here.

Despite his “very convincing facial hair,” Chuck is made by Shaw. He and Sarah fight Justin and company off successfully, but Chuck’s Intersect malfunction (think “strobe light” instead of “flash”) is getting worse.

Chuck calls Shaw in the middle of his big presentation, mentioning that he knows the Elders are in the room. And hey, apparently the Ring phones can text! Which is pretty helpful if you’re Shaw and want to quietly alert the Elders to leave the room. I’m also having a lot of fun picturing typical Ring text messages (“omg u r so evil! let’s get 2gether @ teh base l8r!”). Morgan, Casey and Sarah handily arrest said Elders as they escape. The Ring is proving shockingly easy to bring down. Did we just need the proper motivation, or are the stars aligning at precisely the right moment?

Shaw finds Chuck in his office, and assures him that he has no authority to arrest Shaw even though he killed Chuck’s father, is a Ring agent, and plans to destroy the CIA. Wow, for a guy so smart… Chuck, duh, introduces him to the magic of videoconferencing, which allows Shaw to unknowingly finish his presentation from afar, where an audience of spies listens to him recount his nefarious doings. I can’t believe they didn’t fit in a Cisco plug here — the Subway one felt so forced.

Anyway, Chuck’s evil laugh needs a little work. And Chuck needs to realize that if you’re going to laugh evilly, you’d better have the goods to carry the plan through to the end, which doesn’t quite happen. His Intersect malfunctions again and Shaw escapes, leaving Sarah with Chuck, who’s incapacitated by a short-circuiting brain.

Shaw vs. The Buy More: Shaw visits the Buy More, planting explosives and taking Morgan and the store hostage until Sarah gives him Chuck. He’s got the Governor and is already discredited — is it just personal now? His creepy, cyborg-like calmness makes him pretty hard to read. Casey insists over the phone that Morgan break his thumbs to get out of his handcuffs so that he can pull the fire alarm and evacuate the store. And Morgan’s come a long way, ’cause he actually does it. Uggghhhh! Even worse, Jeff pulls it before Morgan gets a chance to! Man, even if Chuck does quit the CIA, Morgan deserves to stay just based on this.

Shaw handcuffs Sarah to the Nerd Herd desk as Chuck strides in, and they prepare to have a Duel of the Intersects. Chuck strobes instead of flashing again, though, accidentally starting a Jeffster! music video as he staggers. YES, the background to the big duel is Bon Jovi’s classic “Blaze of Glory,” as interpreted by Jeffster! And the video is hilarious. There are already, like, twelve “Glee” albums — when are we going to get our Jeffster! record?

Spy Fu ensues, but Shaw has the clear advantage and knocks Chuck out. On the ground, Chuck flashes back to a childhood memory where he wandered into his dad’s lab and activated an early version of the Intersect. Like, at age 7 or so. OMG! Papa B. is amazed that Chuck’s okay after downloading the whole thing, calling him special, just as he did when he died. I’m very interested to learn more about this next season. Did Chuck flash as a child? What was in there? At any rate, Chuck wakes up with some serious moves. Chuck: “Sorry, just had to reboot.” It’s basically like when Neo starts dodging bullets in “The Matrix.”

He destroys Shaw, who taunts him, but Chuck refuses to kill him: “No thanks, I’ve already done that once before.” Shaw: “That’s what makes you weak.” Sarah [hits Shaw with a giant metal beam]: “No, that’s what makes you great.” And she gets the Governor back for Chuck. His Intersect/brain was deteriorating alarmingly fast, but now he’s in good shape. Huzzah! Chuck nervously tells Sarah he has to keep his promise to Ellie to quit the spy life, asking if she could love a regular guy. Sarah: “Well, I fell in love with a regular guy.” Man, I love those two together.

Not to be left out, Morgan heroically finds Shaw’s explosives detonator, and less heroically drops it when bragging about his broken-thumbed success. Everyone runs, and the Buy More is completely destroyed. Color me less convinced about Morgan’s future CIA career.

They end with a sweet memorial to Papa B., which is interrupted by Alex’s arrival! Awww, yay. Casey is so freaking adorably excited. Cutest hug evah! He’s got to be one of my favorite characters on TV, period. And yeah, I’d want Morgan away from my daughter, too!

Chuck assures Ellie he’s done with spying — he even told Beckman. Thanks to his whole saving her job and the entire government thing, she lets him leave. Chuck’s back to being a civilian! And yet, still not quite an average Joe. A text summons him to his computer, where he logs on and sees a final message from his dad. Papa B. is sorry he died, and he loves (correction: loved) Chuck and Ellie. Hmm … I’m gonna say sweet, but weird.

More importantly, he sends Chuck back to their old house, where there’s a giant crazy secret spy basement full of records about various shadowy figures with code names. There’s a lot more to Orion than we knew — including enemies who will now come after Chuck, as well as family secrets: “I did it all for her,” Papa B. says. A woman who is apparently Chuck’s mom receives a phone call from a man who says they’re going to have to move her, as Chuck finds a piece of her jewelry sitting on a table in the spy lair. A file nearby labels her as “missing.” Wooooah.

Big Mike vs. Jeffster!: Quite the Big Mike Subway ad, eh? Anyway, Big Mike has a bat-phone in his office with “Moses,” founder of Buy More on the other line. Oh, Big Mike. Always full of surprises. Unless they increase sales, their branch is going to be shut down. And without Morgan or Chuck to advise him, Big Mike agrees with Lester’s plan to have a going-out-of-business sale to bump up the sales figures. In appreciation, Big Mike agrees to let them screen the Jeffster! music video.

Of course, the fact that Lester came up with the idea should’ve been a pretty huge red flag. The Buy More brass turn up in the middle of the sale, claiming that the store has been shut down and Big Mike is essentially stealing the merchandise by discounting it instead of shipping it to Beverly Hills. Big Mike is sure he’ll be fired, but Jeff suggests they instead burn down the Buy More. Um, how does that accomplish anything?

Big Mike snaps, accusing them of bringing him pain and misery. I’m with him up until he calls Lester’s singing a “vocal felony.” After the big explosion, Big Mike blames it on them, so now they’re fugitives. Even they aren’t so sure they’re innocent. Lester: “Did we do that?” I hope this doesn’t mean they won’t be back next year! I may not love them as individuals, but they shine as Jeffster!

Odds and Ends:

I can’t believe the season’s already over! And I hope certain other shows I watch take note of the success “Chuck” had at letting their two main characters hook up rather than prolonging the increasingly artificial tension. Just sayin’. Worked here.

So now that everyone’s in on Chuck’s big secret, he’s got a new one! I wonder what his new day job will be without the CIA or the Buy More…

Chuck blames himself for his dad’s death because it was his decision to download the Intersect 2.0 and become a spy, but come on, it was his dad’s decision to become a spy first. And he invented the Intersect for godsakes! At the same time, yeah, that sucks.

I found the idea of Chuck becoming “the weapon [the military has] always dreamed of” almost as disconcerting as his popped collar.

Quotes:

Sarah: “I know what you went through, but you really have to start putting it behind you.” Chuck: “What if I can’t?” Sarah: “Mmm … then there are always blueberries.” Chuck: “How is that possibly supposed to make me feel — Oh my god, these are amazing blueberries!”

Casey: “Don’t know how it happened, but our boy’s become a man. Bartowski’s a spy. Picked a good one, Walker … finally.”

‘Ghost Whisperer’ – ‘The Children’s Parade’ Recap (Series Finale)

The fact I had to write “series finale” in the title of this post is scarier than the series finale itself. This season has been one of the darkest for the show and the bad guys of the season, the Shadows, seemed to be the ultimate evil. Therefore, I expected a rather dark episode that would contain one hell of a showdown to send the Shadows away.

Instead, we were treated to a way too quick and far from epic face off between the Shinies and the Shadows. What a let down! The upside of the episode? We got closure, which I didn’t expect since I thought the series Powers That Be learned too late that the show was getting canceled.

The “Melinda is not here” line we’ve seen in the teasers had me expect an action packed episode. Yes, there was action but it fell flat due to how quickly the Shinies destroyed the Shadows. The latter have been a great foe all season long. Even in this week’s episode, they showed how powerful and twisted they are when they took charge of Eli but, more importantly, of Melinda. “Melinda is not here” was scary, no?

I didn’t except the Shinies, children who crossed over, to use force and weapons to battle off the Shadows. After all, the Shinies are peaceful children. However, I expected the Shadows, who are extremely powerful evils, to fight back at least for a minute or two even if they were outnumbered. The Shadows have been fierce and twisted all season and never backed down, why now? Instead, the Shadows were quickly destroyed in thousand of pieces and went away. The End.

Another tiny letdown was that Bedford was nowhere to be seen. The Shadows used him to do their evil doings for months and now that they have to face off their sworn enemies he is not there? It would have been nice to get a quick shootout to know that Bedford was alright in the end. Maybe have him be in the town square watching the faceoff and, when the Shadows were destroyed, have him see the light and cross over to join his mother.

That said, there are some things I enjoyed about this finale. First is the fact that Aiden didn’t let go of his gift even if Melinda and Jim tried to convince him that ghosts did not exist. As Melinda and Jim told him at the end, Aiden’s gift makes him special and should be respected and used to do good. Secondly, Jim, Melinda and Aiden have a happy ending where they bond together and agree to support one another and not keep their gifts a secret to them. Together, they’ll be quite the team to help souls cross over. Of course, they will not be alone as Delia, Ned and Eli will surely still be around to help.

When CBS announced earlier this week that it was canceling the series, I expected the series finale to be filled with cliffhangers since it had been shot weeks ago with no time to wrap things up properly. I was pleasantly surprised that we got a happy ending and no cliffhangers. It does look like the shows’ Powers That Be sensed that they may get canceled and decided to offer fans some closure. Thank you.

‘Ghost Whisperer’s’ fans, there is still hope that our favorite ghostly show will not have to cross over as ABC is pondering picking up the series. If ABC decides not to pick it up, at least we got closure and all the characters are alive and well.﻿

After CBS surprisingly canceled Ghost Whisperer this week, the word is getting stringer that ABC will bring the series to the network. Here’s hoping it’s true. And be sure sign the following petitions and send letters. We must save Ghost Whisperer!

Write a letter to CBS to the network. Be respectful. Tell them how much you enjoy the show, that you’ve signed the petition, and that you want to see it continue. Write via snail-mail to: Ms. Nina Tassler, CBS, 7800 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90039, RE: Ghost Whisperer

CBS Cancels Ghost Whisperer:

In an year when some insiders speculated that CBS would only lose a couple shows, the network just canceled four dramas (including three veterans) and two comedies.

Crime procedurals “Cold Case,” “Ghost Whisperer” and “Numbers” will not be renewed for next season. Jerry Bruckheimer’ s drama “Miami Medical” is likewise canceled, as is fellow freshman “Accidentally on Purpose,” which mainly aired in the network’s Monday night comedy block. Veteran Wednesday night comedies “New Adventures of Old Christine” and “Gary Unmarried” are also cancelled.

Several of these titles could have easily returned and, indeed, were expected to return. The harsh verdicts will signal to ad buyers that TV’s “most-watched network” is not being complacent and that executives have faith in their new shows, though will doubtless disappoint some fans.

Also, the network picked up “Medium” and “Rules of Engagement” for next season, as expected.

With the CBS’ upfront on Wednesday, the network suddenly has launched into a flurry of bubble show decision making.

The most surprising outcome here is canceling “Ghost Whisperer,” which many insiders expected to return and consistently won its Friday night time period.

Another big surprise: “Old Christine,” which has been a stable, if modest performer on the network’s Wednesday night lineup. Also, ABC has consistently expressed interest in picking up the comedy should CBS drop it.

Also, “Cold Case.” CBS was on the fence on this seven-year-old drama for months. On Sunday nights, “Case” ratings were admirably stable, if fairly modest.

“Miami” nosedived on Fridays at 10 p.m., then showed some signs of improvement in recent weeks once it was offered a lead-in from original episodes of “Medium.” Last Friday, the momentum seemed to stall, with the drama backsliding once again to a 1.2 rating.

“Accidentally” may end up with the highest average rating among any canceled show this season. As part of CBS’ comedy block, the show posted a number that would have been perfectly acceptable in most time periods. But once CBS sample the show on less protected Wednesday nights, its ratings fell sharply, showing the network its Monday audience was mainly built on momentum.

Ever since “Numbers” saw its episode count reduced, insiders have expected the show to get axed.

CBS has canceled its program “The Ghost Whisperer” and rumor now has it that ABC will pick up the show – which could mean producing more episodes or strictly showing the series in syndication. It also turns out that ABC developed “The Ghost Whisperer” before selling it to CBS – so technically ABC already owns half of the show, so it wouldn’t be a stretch for it to be shown on the network. What do you think about this?

Melinda’s (Jennifer Love Hewitt) investigation of a poltergeist in the hospital leads to a showdown with supernatural forces terrorizing her and her son on tonight’s “Ghost Whisperer.”

“We have lots of strange children marching around in scary masks, which is so creepy,” Jennifer tells ET. “It’s like, ‘Why do we always have to make children creepy?’ I’m constantly asking the producers. I’m like, ”Can’t we just have a child who’s not creepy, because it freaks me out. It gives me nightmares and I don’t like it.'”

There actually is a non-creepy kid on “Ghost Whisperer,” and that is her son Aiden (Connor Gibbs).

“We find out that he has to come to Melinda’s aid and really saves her life in the season finale,” Jennifer says. “The dark side gets extremely powerful very quickly and he’s sort of her only heroic key. So my son gets to kind of be a superhero for the episode, which is very cool.”

The “Ghost Whisperer” season finale — possibly the series finale — airs tonight at 8 p.m. on CBS.

Should ABC Save ‘Ghost Whisperer’ and ‘The New Adventures of Old Christine’?

CBS canceled the two shows, which had both run for five years, citing the usual reasons of low ratings (as CBS entertainment president Nina Tassler explained to E!) and increased expenses (actors tend to demand more money the longer a show stays on the air). ABC had long been interested in picking up either show if CBS should drop it, much the way ABC, CBS and TNT picked up ‘Scrubs,’ ‘Medium’ and ‘Southland,’ respectively, after NBC orphaned them.

The news that ‘Ghost Whisperer’ still has a shot at survival, while ‘Christine’ doesn’t, is curious. ABC’s fall slate, unveiled this week, is already full of hour-long dramas, including one, Dana Delany’s Friday-night procedural ‘Body of Proof,’ that seems to play to the same strengths as Jennifer Love Hewitt’s longtime Friday night staple (minus the supernatural element). Still, ABC Productions is a co-producer of the ‘Ghost Whisperer,’ so some of the expense of the transfer and a fraction of any potential syndication revenue will go back into the parent company’s pocket.

That wouldn’t be the case with Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ ‘Christine,’ even though, as a long-running half-hour comedy, it would be much easier to syndicate. Also, ABC’s new fall slate includes a couple new ‘Christine’-like comedies: ‘Happy Endings’ (about a couple that splits up but remains in each other’s lives) and ‘Better Together’ (about two women and their very different romantic relationships). Not a lot of room for a third such show, especially given the network’s popular Wednesday comedy block — which contains sophomore series ‘Cougar Town,’ another ‘Christine’-like show.

Even if ABC could save both CBS castoffs, however, should they? Sometimes, a canceled show still has a lot of potential creative life left (as was the case with ‘Southland,’ which NBC let go after just one season). Often, however, the canceled show has run out of juice before it finds a new home, as was the case with ‘Scrubs.’

Does anyone think that, after five years, ‘Ghost Whisperer’ or ‘Old Christine’ still had a lot of new stories left to tell? If you do, let us know below. And if you think it’s time to let them rest in peace, let us know that, too.

(S02E23) “I’m becoming what I was supposed to be. Your children’s children will worship me.” – Red John

Technically, Red John did not say that quote but he could very well have. Red John is twisted enough to believe he’ll one day be worshiped for his killings. He can add one potential fan to his list as one important character claimed that Red John could redeem himself!

I say “he” when speaking of Red John, but it could very well be a woman, no? And based on the new tidbits we got about Red John this week, I’m still not 100 percent sure RJ is a man. You?

At the end of the episode, when Red John first speaks to Patrick Jane, RJ’s voice is in a pitch that could be a woman or a man slightly modifying their voice tone. However, when RJ recited the rhyme to Jane, the tone was a bit lower. Is that proof that RJ is a man? Another hint that RJ may be a man is that John was strong enough to rather easily put the chair, with Jane still taped to it, back on its feet. Then again, Red John could be a strong woman.

One fan theory I couldn’t shake throughout the episode is that Kristina is Red John. It really bugged me that she said Red John could redeem himself and that he is a man. Could it be that she said that because she is Red John? Plus, it does look iffy that she took her stuff, without messing anything in her bedroom, and left her home to go with him. I’m still not 100 percent sure that Kristina is with Red John but from the “Kristina would want me to send her love” speech, it does look like Red John has her. Red John could be Kristina and that she only told him that “Kristina sends her love” to throw the trail off of her. And Kristina could have killed her interviewer to have Jane and the CBI think that John was after her as he went after Jane a few years back. The killing happened after Jane explained to Kristina why her giving an interview was a mistake, which could have given her an idea how to throw suspicions off of her. If Kristina is not Red John, I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s somewhat involved in his killings.

One of my other suspects to be Red John is Brett Partridge. This is the agent who was at Marley’s crime scene and who butted heads with Jane. Why do I see him as a suspect? First, he dislikes Jane. Secondly, Partridge was in the pilot episode. Is it a coincidence that he appeared in the pilot and, two years later, in the second season finale?

The main case of the week — Marley’s murder — was really well developed. Not only did it look like Red John may have done it, but I never thought of the film students actually killing people to make a Red John movie. Even if Jane was pretty sure Red John didn’t kill Marley, you could see it affected him big time. Of course, things got a turn for the worse when Red John did kill the interviewer. Not only that but the case of the week had Red John save Jane! Why? Because Red John loves to toy with Jane so he prefers having him alive than dead? Twisted!

Beside wondering who Red John is, I wonder why Jane didn’t tell Lisbon what Red John told him. Is it because Jane wants to have the upper hand in the investigation? After all, Red John is Jane’s case. Red John is Jane’s life.

‘Bones’ season finale: The times, they are a-changin’

Deep breaths, everyone. Deep breaths! Okay. So. The “Bones” season finale was pretty much a textbook example of a game-changer — by the end of the episode, the main characters had scattered to all corners of the globe for the next year!

But let’s take a Brennan moment and think rationally: This wasn’t a series finale, much as it felt like one. The next season will simply pick up a year later, and everyone will be back together again, right? RIGHT?? Good. Let’s just hope they “evolve” in the right direction, if they aren’t going to pick up right where they left off. But I’m getting ahead of myself…

The Case: This was definitely one of the more dramatic body reveals — a seemingly endless avalanche of junk breaks through an apartment’s ceiling, followed by a decomposed corpse. Sure, the kid in the apartment looked happy about it, but he’s totally gonna have PTSD flashbacks every time he gets something off the top shelf of the closet and everything falls down on him.

The victim, an agoraphobic hoarder, was hacked up by a fan before getting trapped under junk and starving to death. Sweets classifies him as a “level five hoarder.” If you level up to six, can you cast spells to lift piles of junk off yourself? Angela uses a fancy mass recognition program (picture Hodgins as Pac-Man and the most important pile of junk as a bunch of cherries) to lead them to a spot where something valuable was taken.

Apparently, the victim had gotten his hands on an extremely valuable Fiestaware gnome from 1941, which was made using uranium. Seriously? (Seriously.) A collector had stolen the gnome from him, but in the end it was a former coworker and lover who accidentally killed the victim, pushing a fan at him in the struggle that ensued after she tried to force him out into the sunlight. And that, my friends, was Booth and Brennan’s last case together. Well, their last case together for a year, at least…

Booth and Brennan: Bones is our first offender, getting so jazzed up about super important ancient remains found in the Maluku Islands that she’s distracted from the case, even making mistakes. (I know!) She at first claims to be questioning if the work she’s doing at the Jeffersonian is “worthless” compared to a historic dig, but then confesses that she just needs a break: “I’m worried all the time. Worried that Booth might get hurt on a case and I couldn’t prevent it, worried about what our partnership means … I just need some perspective so that I can view my life with objectivity.” Okay, that’s actually quite the admission on Brennan’s part, and absence makes the heart grow stronger, right?

When Brennan is asked to head up the project, she refuses to make a decision before talking to Booth, her partner. His mouth says “It’s okay,” but his lack of eye contact speaks volumes, so much so that even Brennan picks up on it. Booth, however, is himself being courted by the Army to train soldiers in Afghanistan. With Parker encouraging him to go be a hero he decides to bail on DC as well, rather than do his job without Brennan.

Brennan hopes they’ll pick up where they left off after a year, but Booth reminds her that things evolve over time. I wonder if he’s hoping they’ll evolve in a certain direction while they’re apart, or if he’s given up hope and is escaping into the Army as a distraction.

Caroline dispenses a lot of tough love, insisting that they clear the case before they leave and then confronting them after they protest that it won’t be their last case: “Trust me. The way you two are running from each other, you’d better be damn sure of these little trips you’re taking.” One of these days Caroline is just going to snap and lock Booth and Brennan in a room together until she hears naughty noises through the door, I swear to god. When Sweets suggests that solving the case might make them want to stay, Caroline tells him to “grow the hell up.” Awww, the anger is just her special way of expressing how much she cares about those two.

At the airport, Brennan says all her other goodbyes and looks for Booth as her flight boards. Suddenly he’s there, looking quite dashing in his Army uniform — he had to sneak off the base to say goodbye. Man, they beg you to come back and then they make you sneak out to say goodbye to the partner you left for them? Sort of? Harsh! He tells her to be really careful in the jungle, and she points out how much more dangerous Afghanistan is, telling him not to be a hero … not to be himself. Great line. Loving, but not overtly so.

It looks like Booth is going to kiss her, but instead he grabs Brennan’s hand and tells her that they’ll meet at the reflecting pool in one year — she knows exactly the spot he’s talking about, of course. He reluctantly lets go of her hand and they both walk away, and then both look back, so sadly. At this point I maaay have yelled something along the lines of “Why are they doing this?!?!” at my television.

Sweets and Daisy: Daisy has also been offered a spot on the dig in Indonesia, much to Sweets’ dismay. And she probably doesn’t make things better by saying her career means “everything” to her, and suggesting he become a pearl diver. Hodgins, always the romantic, thinks Sweets should go, but Sweets isn’t sure he wants to give up his entire life like that. Dude. It’s a year on a tropical island. You’re a supergenius with like twelve degrees — I’m pretty sure you could get your job back after a sabbatical.

And so he not only doesn’t go with her — he also thinks it’s best that they not wait for each other. Um, seriously? Weren’t they engaged? Even if he won’t follow her to Indonesia, he can’t spend a year doing the long-distance thing with the woman with whom he wanted to spend the rest of his life? Sweets, Sweets, Sweets.

A) I now question any advice he’s ever given as a psychologist, and B) He really does need to grow the hell up. It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the woman he loved! Maybe this is karmic repayment for Daisy suggesting to Brennan that she and Booth might be holding each other back. (…Or maybe Sweets was just looking for an excuse to get out.)

Hodgins and Angela: Angela’s dad is back, and he recruits Hodgins to steal his car from some bikers who won it in a card game. Angry dogs are involved, but Sweets mesmerizes them with his mad cat-imitation skills. Awesome. The whole thing was sort of a test, and after Angela’s dad and Hodgins escape (sans Sweets), her dad gives Hodgins the car as a sort of “welcome to the family” present.

He won’t be using it for a while, though, because Hodgins and Angela are headed to Paris for a year rather than break in a new agent and anthropologist. So … it’s just Cam and the NotZacks at the Jeffersonian? Bummer for Cam…

Odds and Ends:

This really felt like a series finale, didn’t it? I’m still processing, and reeaallly not looking forward to having to wait around all summer!

No matter how you all feel about it, can we agree that it surpassed the extremely low bar that was last season’s finale?

Operating under the assumption that the show will skip forward a year, I’m interested to see how the characters change. I honestly think it’s a pretty good excuse to shake things up in that department without changing the cast around too much (cough”House”cough).

I will note, however, that I don’t want Booth to turn into a cannibal’s disciple after returning from the Army. (And speaking of returning, is it optimistic of Booth to think that the Army would let him come back after a year?)

It looks like Brennan’s headed toward a revelation of her own, but I wonder if Booth will still feel the same way a year from now, or at least feel so motivated to act on his feelings. A lot can happen in a year…

No mention of Hacker or CatFish, for the record.

There’s a Ramen spectroscope? I feel like there’s a really great noodle joke in there, but I can’t quite get to it.

Loved that Hodgins gave Brennan a guide to everything poisonous in Indonesia, but I loved Brennan’s “I love you, too” reaction even more. Seems Booth told her that “the proffering of overly solicitous advice is indicative of love.” Ha! And aww!

Quotes:

Cam: “I think I’ll be happier downstairs with the dead stuff.”

Brennan: “You didn’t look like buddies.” Booth: “What, all of a sudden you can tell stuff like that now?”

Hodgins: “I’m so turned on by her brain … I’d like to see her brain totally naked.” Sweets: “That’s a terrible image. Just terrible.”

Suspect: “Would you mind turning him around?” Booth: “Why? Because the gnome knows what you did, and you don’t like him staring at you with his soulful little eyes?”

Angela’s dad: “It’s been my experience that if you drive at ’em, people get out of the way.”

Brennan: “I can provide you with a list of forensic anthropologists who can do this job.” Cam: “No, Dr. Brennan, you can provide me with a list of forensic anthropologists.” Brennan: “I don’t know what that means.”

Meredith Grey loves the hospital. “Correction: loved it here,” she says. The halls of Seattle Grace are no longer safe, Meredith tells everyone in her voice-over in the Season 6 finale of Grey’s Anatomy on May 20, 2010. Within the first 10 minutes of the show, the shooter–Mr. Gary Clark–has taken control of the hospital, shooting down surgeons and anyone who gets in his way.

Mr. Clark has appeared a few times on Grey’s, most recently when he brought a lawsuit against the hospital and Chief Derek Shepherd for “killing” his wife by pulling the plug.

“I’m the man,” Mr. Clark says. “I let you decide that she should die… but I’m a man now.” He also thinks he’s God, taking the life of everyone in the hospital into his hands, even as he says surgeons are like God, handing out judgement over who should live and who should die.

But not everyone knows that there’s a shooter in the hospital. Arizona and Callie fight, letting out all their grievances against one another; Arizona doesn’t trust her, Callie doesn’t want to change for her when Arizona isn’t willing to change either. Bailey takes care of patient Mary, played by Mandy Moore, who is receiving a blood transfusion. Hunt and Teddy Altman try to save Pete, a man shot after he got into a car accident; and Cristina is through with Hunt, or so she says. Then there’s Meredith, who has just learned she’s pregnant, and she’s actually happy.

But before she can tell Shepard, the hospital goes on lock-down–meaning no one is supposed to leave the area they are currently in.

Mr. Clark goes through the hospital, constantly getting turned around. No one seems willing to help him, and he’s clearly not thinking clearly. When Mercy-Wester pixie Reed won’t help Clark find the Chief, he shoots her right in the forehead. Karev hears the shot, and he’s shot in his side, left for dead.

As the hour one season finale Sanctuary progresses, everyone is at risk and everyone is trying to save lives.

Lexie and Mark find Karev in the elevator and try to save him on the conference room table. Bailey tries to save Percy, while Mary lends a hand. And then Clark finds Shepherd on the catwalk. The episode has been tense and dramatic all the way through, but this time Clark doesn’t just shoot mindlessly. He talks to Derek, giving Meredith and Cristina the chance to find him–but the friends can’t do anything to help.

Shepherd tries to talk Clark down, talking about why he became a doctor–to save lives after he saw his own father shot down in cold blood. But Clark’s sympathy is forgotten as soon as Shepherd’s assistant April rushes forward. Shepherd is shot, and Clark runs away, like the coward he really is.

But that’s just the first hour. Clark was going after Shepherd, but he wasn’t the only one Clark holds responsible for his wife’s death…. Who else is he after?

Prior to the season finale, Shonda Rhimes had teased that Cristina and Meredith would be performing the most important surgeries of their lives, and she wasn’t kidding.

But wait, there’s more. (And yes, I know you want to know about Shepherd, but the show made us wait, so I’ll make you wait, too). Bailey does all she can to save Percy, but the elevators are shut off and there’s nothing more she can do but wait with him.

Karev’s life depends on Mark and Lexie. In gasping breaths, he tells Mark that he should live life more fully, meaning: eat more bacon and have more sex. But that’s one of the few light moments of the show. Lexie goes to get more supplies; when she leaves the room, she encounters Mr. Clark.

Mr. Clark knows who she is, because Lexie was one of the three people he had planned to kill. Why? She physically pulled the plug on his wife. He also came to get the chief, as well as the attending doctor, Dr. Weber. But before he can shoot Lexie, SWAT shoots Clark. In the most unbelievable part of the hour, Clark manages to disappear back into Seattle Grace without SWAT running after him, and his path of destruction continues.

Meanwhile, with Hunt and Altman already escorted outside, Cristina is the only cardio surgeon there to save the Chief and her best friend’s husband. She forces Meredith to sit outside the surgery room and not to look. In Ellen Pompeo’s best acting ever, she tells April, “It took me a long time to find him… My best friend’s hands are inside his chest. You don’t get to cry about that.”

Owen Hunt chooses Cristina, and he foolishly rushes back into the hospital to find her. Instead, he finds Clark in the surgery room, holding a gun to Cristina’s head as she operates. Clark demands she stop, but he doesn’t shoot Shepherd again, even though he could end it right there. Rather, he wants to control everyone in the room as he has for the entire show.

In the most heart-wrenching moment of the entire two-hour season finale, Meredith bursts into the room, asking Clark to kill her. Eye for an eye, she says. She’s Lexie’s sister. She’s like a daughter to Dr. Weber. She’s the Chief’s wife. Clark hesitates, giving Hunt the chance to jump at him… but he’s not quick enough. Clark shoots him, too.

Avery, assisting Cristina, tells Cristina to stop, to raise her hands before Clark shoots again… he proves that Shepherd is dead when the heart monitor line goes flat, and Clark walks out of the room, satisfied and ready to find Dr. Weber. Meredith cries out, falls to the floor–and then Avery reconnects Shepherd to the machine. As Cristina finishes working on Shepherd, Meredith helps Hunt, and then after all that stress, it’s no surprise when she miscarries.

But it still isn’t over. Dr. Weber thinks he’s still in charge, and he manages to get into the hospital. He gives Clark a choice, since he has one bullet left: “Life in prison or an afterlife with your wife.” The Chief isn’t afraid to die: “Death is not justice but end of a beautiful journey.”

A single shot rings out and then SWAT finally shows for real.

Shepherd’s voice-over repeats the theme of the hour. “Human life is made up of choices. And it’s not always in her hands.”

This was an amazing season finale, one of the best in the six seasons of Grey’s Anatomy. There’s no cliffhanger like last year–will Izzie and/or George live?–but I don’t care about that. This season finale brought people together, just as it tore them apart by death.

Recap – Grey’s Anatomy Season 6 Finale

Wow. Now that is what I call a powerful season ender we have with Grey’s Anatomy 6.23 and 6.24. From the opening ten minutes before the first commercial break to the very end we are taken on an emotional roller coaster, and we see no one was safe from the shooter tonight. We learn quickly that the shooter is a grieving man we have seen before a couple of times this season – Gary Clark. This is the husband of the woman that died after an operation by Webber and Lexie. She was DNR, so Derek didn’t allow heroic measures to save. This made the man sue the hospital. A lawsuit he lost, and this is his revenge. He comes to the hospital with the intentions of shooting Lexie, Derek and Webber. However, he doesn’t find them, and in his search for these three he shoots many others. He shoots surgeons, nurses and hospital security as he makes his way from floor to floor. The first to die is Reed. He also shoots Alex and Charles, and by the time he is through he finds Derek and shoots him.

Alex lives and Charles lives for some time, but Bailey sees he will die when they can’t get him to an operating room. She sits with him and her patient Mary, played by guest star Mandy Moore, and stays with him until he dies. His last request is he wants Reed to know he loved her. He doesn’t know she has died. Alex also has a moment where he thinks Lexie is Izzie, and he practically begs her not to leave him ever again. This is after Lexie told him she loved him in front of Sloan. We all know Sloan was trying to win her back, but he puts his focus into saving Alex. The shooter does have some kind of heart though.

He doesn’t shoot some. He lets April go. He doesn’t shoot Yang, but he does threaten to do it when he finds her in the operating room trying to repair the damage he did to Derek. Meredith even tries to divert the shooter’s attention to her. She gives up herself, but Cristina says to the shooter that he shouldn’t shoot a pregnant woman. This moment is chaos, and Owen is shot. It is a small round though. Straight through the shoulder. Meredith goes to work on him, and while she is doing this – she has a miscarriage. Webber goes into the hospital. He was out when the shooter came in, and he is the one that finds Gary Clark. Gary’s plan was to shoot Webber, and then himself. There is a problem though. He only has one bullet left. Webber taunts him into making a decision. We aren’t shown that decision, but we see Webber walking and that tells us what happened. The man shot himself. Alex makes it, and once Yang performs surgery and completes it – Derek is also saved. A powerful episode full of emotion. What will happen next season? Will the hospital ever be the same?

Image Credit: Scott Garfield/ABCSPOILER ALERT:If you have yet to watch last night’s Grey’s Anatomy finale, stop reading now. I repeat, if you have yet to watch last night’s Grey’s Anatomy finale, stop reading now. For the last time, if you have yet to watch last night’s Grey’s Anatomy, stop reading now. Everyone else, onward and downward…

Say what you will about Grey’s Anatomy creator Shonda Rhimes (Baby killer! McDreamy shooter! Nightmare inflictor!), but the woman knows how to write a finale. Last night’s season 6 climax — in which a crazed gunman terrorized Seattle Grace for the better part of two hours — had 15 million viewers (yours truly among them) biting their nails down to nubs while convulsing on the edge of their seats. When the dust settled, there were two significant deaths, one tragic miscarriage, and roughly 100 nagging questions. In this exclusive interview, Rhimes tackles the 20 most popular.

So what have the last 18 hours been like for you? I know you were nervous about this episode.
SHONDA RHIMES: I was. I was very nervous because I felt like what was coming wasn’t territory that we’d ever covered before, and I didn’t know how the audience was going to take it. I feel like I got a lot of really good responses from it, and I feel like it was an emotional ride for everybody. I wanted it to feel a little bit like a stand-alone movie, and I think it did.

One of the most controversial aspects of the finale was Meredith’s miscarriage. Did you ever consider a different outcome?
RHIMES: If she didn’t have the miscarriage, she wouldn’t have been pregnant at the beginning of the episode.

So the pregnancy was all about the miscarriage?
RHIMES: It wasn’t necessarily all about the [miscarriage], but it was about Meredith Grey being truly happy. And for me, when you’re watching that storyline, when Meredith is having a miscarriage and she basically says, “I’m having a miscarriage. I need Lidocaine. Are you going to help me or not?,” you realize how incredibly strong she is and how badass she’s being in that moment. To me, that’s the hero moment. If you don’t have that moment you don’t really have the story of Meredith Grey.

At the end of the episode, she throws her positive pregnancy test in the trash. What did that symbolize?
RHIMES: The death of the exciting dream that she had been holding on to all day… I feel like you don’t ever know how much you want something until its been taken away from you. Meredith figured out in this episode how much she wanted to be with Derek, how much she wanted to be his wife, and how much she wanted to have his children.

You once said Mer and Der would never have children. Have you changed your mind about that?
RHIMES: [Long pause] Yes. I’ve written my way out of that I think.

So there may still be a baby in their future?
RHIMES: Definitely. For me, this is the beginning of the baby story.

I’m curious about the decision to end the episode with just Meredith, as opposed to Meredith at Derek’s bedside.
RHIMES: The [episode] was not about aftermath. And to me, to see Meredith and Derek happy with everything and fine was a scene of aftermath.

Will the season premiere be about the immediate aftermath?
RHIMES: I don’t know.

So you haven’t decided whether there will be a time jump?
RHIMES: We’ve talked about it. We’ve talked about it endlessly. We’ve come up with 40 thousand different scenarios. The truth is, I’m exhausted. We just finished season 6. I don’t even want to think about season 7.

How does Meredith not revert back to dark and twisty Meredith after all of this?
RHIMES: I don’t know how she doesn’t, but she doesn’t. I think in a lot of ways Meredith has become the mother of the group. I don’t think there’s a lot of room for dark and twisty when everybody’s been affected. We joke a lot in the writers’ room that because Meredith’s childhood was so damaging, in a way, she’s better equipped to handle this stuff than anybody else.

How did you arrive at the decision to kill off Reed and Charles?
RHIMES: It was both really easy and really hard. We’ve been layering in these people all season, and I wanted you to feel comfortable with them and their personalities. I also really wanted [to lose] people who we barely knew. It’s sort of like what Charles says to Bailey: “I know you really didn’t like me.” And Bailey says, “Oh, I liked you.” And then he’s gone. By the time we fell in love with him, he was gone.

Did you ever think, In order to do this story justice, I need to kill off a major character?
RHIMES: No, because — and I said this before the episode ever aired — this was not about who lived and who died. To me, it was about what was gained and what was lost. The real death of the episode is the miscarriage.

Had Katherine Heigl not left the show, what role would Izzie have played in the finale? Would she have been killed?
RHIMES: I have no idea.

Really?
RHIMES: Really.

Talk to me about the decision to have Alex call out for Izzie after he was shot.
RHIMES: I really wanted to find a way to deal with how much Alex is missing Izzie. And it felt really poignant to me that if he was lying on a table dying he’d be calling for her.

Lexie confessed her love for Alex, but some fans aren’t buying it. She didn’t really make a decision between Alex and Mark in that moment, did she?
RHIMES: I don’t think she could have possibly made a decision in that moment. The thing I think is interesting is that Alex definitely made his decision. So I don’t necessarily know that there’s a triangle there. When Alex called for Izzie — when in your hour of need you’re calling for another woman — I think he made his decision. So I don’t think there’s a triangle.

In other words, hope is very much alive for Mark and Lexie?
RHIMES: Yes, there’s definitely hope.

Let’s shift gears to the actual crisis itself. I get that there’s a certain suspension of disbelief that comes with stories like this. But I don’t get why the SWAT team didn’t take the gunman out after they shot him the first time. It looked like they easily could have gotten a second shot in there.
RHIMES: They didn’t have a clear shot of him again.

But he was just laying there on the floor.
RHIMES: But Lexie was in between them. And then she got up and was still in between them. And she’s running away and he’s running away at the same time. So I don’t see that they could have gotten a clear shot.

Fans are joking that Seattle has the worst SWAT team in the country.
RHIMES: That’s a shame because we have these super awesome SWAT guys who talked us through everything. And we had a meeting in which I said, “Seriously, it would be five guys in a group searching [the entire] hospital? That sounds crazy to me.” And they said that’s how it works. And for me, it made it so much more horrible because that hospital is enormous. And the idea that just five guys are going to save them is ridiculous on so many levels, and yet, that’s how it works. When you’re looking for a shooter, you don’t have a bunch of people all spread out apparently.

Jessica Capshaw is pregnant in real life. Arizona decides at the end of the episode that she wants to have kids with Callie. Is there a connection there?
RHIMES: No — although I love that Jessica is pregnant. I feel like every year we have to have somebody on the show who’s pregnant and we have to hide the pregnancy. It’s what we do now.

So the pregnancy won’t be written into the storyline?
RHIMES: Nope.

Where was Bailey’s beau Ben in this episode?
RHIMES: Ben was not working that day. There was a great debate in the writers’ room that we should have Bailey say something about Ben not working. And I felt like, no, we only see Ben sporadically as it is. He’s not at work that day. And I didn’t want to spend time — because we have so little of it and I had to leave 18 minutes on the cutting room floor — chatting about where Ben was. I felt like you knew Ben wasn’t there because you didn’t see him there. [But] I think there’s going to [fallout] about that later.

So we’ll see some resolution there — even though Jason George (Ben) is on your new show, Off the Map?
RHIMES: I hope so.

You mentioned in your blog post about the finale that April and Jackson are “part of the tribe now.” What did you mean exactly?
RHIMES: For the purpose of story — because I don’t write things thinking, What are the business decisions going on in the background — April and Jackson have really been folded into the group.

I understand no official decision has been made about Sarah Drew and Jesse Williams becoming series regulars next season, but, at this point, can any argument be made against it happening?
RHIMES: I don’t have one. Do you?

I don’t.
RHIMES: I don’t have one either.

Creatively, do you want them to stick around?
RHIMES: I do. It’ll depend on what the studio and the network decide to do with those actors, but I fully advocate to have them.

Kim Raver has already been upgraded to a series regular, but some are questioning Teddy’s future now that Owen has chosen Cristina.
RHIMES: This whole idea that Teddy only exists [as part of a triangle is ludicrous]. Teddy is Cristina’s teacher. Derek would be dead if Cristina had not had Teddy around. That’s how I look at it. I will say it again, the studio and network have to renew everyone’s options, and they have not done so yet. But it is my intention that we will see Teddy next year.

So that triangle is, for all intents and purposes, over.
RHIMES: That triangle is done.

But Cristina broke up with Owen in that episode.
RHIMES: That is true.

So they’re not technically together.
RHIMES: I tried really hard to get in an Owen-Cristina scene where he holds her after Derek survived. But all my [medical advisers] kept saying, “If Owen holds Cristina, she can no longer operate on Derek. She’s become unsterile.” There was a big fight about it and finally I had to go with “the look.” And I felt like Sandra [Oh] and Kevin [McKidd] adequately and brilliantly portrayed in “the look” that there was still something there.

You previously teased this episode as a game-changer. How has the game been changed?
RHIMES: Here’s why I said that: When you face a situation like this — when the entire hospital has turned into a crime scene — everyone you know has faced life or death. It’s an incredibly traumatic event. Everything you knew, believed, felt, and required of the characters in terms of what their stories have been or what you believed about them no longer exists. Part of what’s interesting about next season is that we can start anywhere — in any emotional state — and almost anything can happen because we just came out of this. It’s not like tomorrow they come back being the exact same characters. They’re all sort of fundamentally changed.

Grey’s Anatomy Episode Recap: “Sanctuary/Death and All His Friends”

In the two-hour season finale of Grey’s Anatomy, a gunman terrorizes Seattle Grace, killing surgeons and anyone else standing in his way of finding his one target: Derek Shepherd. Meanwhile, Meredith has some big news for Derek that may alter their future.

“For most people, the hospital is a scary place,” Meredith kicks off the episode by saying in voice-over.” A hostile place. A place where bad things happen,” she continues as we see montages of Alex and Lexie catching some sleep in the on-call room, a woman mourning over the death of a loved one, and Richard explaining to a waitress that he’s now been sober for six months.

“Most people would prefer church or school or home,” she says as we see Callie and Cristina both crying into their cereal over their failed relationships.

“But I grew up here,” she adds as she takes a pregnancy test. “While my mom was on rounds, I learned to read in the O.R. gallery, I played in the morgue, I colored with crayons on old E.R. charts. The hospital was my church, my school, my home. The hospital was my safe place, my sanctuary.”

And as she learns that she is pregnant, she says, “I love it here. Correction, I loved it here.” And we get our first glimpse of the shooter: Gary Clark, the man whose wife died in the hospital after Derek made the decision to pull the plug.

Meredith reveals the news of her pregnancy to Cristina. Not wanting to ruin the moment, Cristina says she’s fine about the Teddy-Owen situation and urges Mer to go reveal the big news to Derek. However, Der’s a bit flummoxed at the time with paperwork, so she wants to wait until that night. “There’s going to be a lot of dirty sex for you tonight,” she says.

In the shooter’s first failed attempt to find Derek, Alex shoots him down, telling him to find a nurse. We then zoom in on Arizona’s storyline, as one of her patients has appendicitis. She has plans to go into surgery later that day. Arizona then has her first run-in with Callie, who scorns her with the silent treatment. Speaking of problems, Owen is now practically shunned by both Cristina and Teddy. More on that later.

Elsewhere, we meet Bailey’s new patient, Mary (played by Mandy Moore), who will be unable to go into surgery yet. So unfortunately, she has to have a colostomy bag for another day. Since she’s not going to have surgery, her husband (played by Ryan Devlin) runs out to get her some real food.

Nurse Tyler tries to keep a woman out of her husband’s E.R. room. After getting into a car accident, the patient got out to give his information, but the guy shot him and drove off. (Who else is betting that Gary Clark was the guy?) Owen allows the woman to say goodbye to her husband, much to Teddy’s chagrin, who insists there isn’t enough time. When Cristina gets upset she won’t be joining in the surgery, Owen interjects, with Cristina snapping back.

Another failed attempt for Gary Clark to find the chief leads him into a storage room in the hospital. He asks Reed where Derek is, but she insists that she’s busy, even going so far as to say she’s a doctor, not a tour guide. Lesson of the day: Don’t be rude. Just as she snippily rattles on, Gary shoots her between the eyes.

Alex hears the gun shot and comes to see what’s going on. He takes a bullet in the side of the chest before Gary moves on. Alex crawls down the hall to the elevator, but he’s in no capacity to push a button and be discovered by anyone.

After Cristina gives Teddy an update during surgery, Owen offers for her to scrub in, but she declines. He leaves the surgery to confront her anger, and it escalates into a full-on breakup. “Do you love her or do you love me?” Oops, don’t take that long to answer Owen. “I’m done, we’re done,” Cris says before walking away.

Next lesson of the day: Watch where you’re walking. While April is writing in her notebook, she trips over Reed’s body, breaking her nose when she lands. But she notices there’s way too much blood to be from her nose, and then turns to see Reed’s dead body. She rushes to Derek’s office, spluttering on that she never knew there could be so much blood in a human body. She finally reveals the Reed was shot in the head, leading Derek to call the police and institute a lockdown on the hospital.

Gary’s next attempt to find Derek comes when he’s in the elevator with Cristina. Unknowingly, Cristina describes exactly where Derek’s office is…Oh Cristina, if you only knew. Thankfully, Gary is pleased by this information and doesn’t put a bullet in Cris.

At the coffee shop, Richard notices hordes of police cruisers heading in the hospital’s direction. Just as he runs out, we see Callie making her way to the pediatric wing. Perfect timing, they’re now on lockdown, which means Callie and Arizona will be stuck on the same floor for quite a while.

Derek makes his way to the O.R. and tasks Avery with breaking the news to Teddy and Owen about the lockdown, but Avery must wait until the patient is stable. Avery has a heartbreaking moment as his hand proceeds to shake in surgery, but he can’t reveal to Teddy and Owen why. Once it is revealed later, Owen and Teddy volunteer to take the patient through the dangerous halls, lest the patient die in the O.R.

As Mark tells Lexie he misses her, the gunman finally shoots in a public place, killing a nurse and sending everyone into a frenzy. Mark pulls Lexie over to the elevators to try to get her out of harm’s way, but when they push the button, the door opens to a passed out Alex.

As Richard tries to get past the police to get into the hospital, we zoom over to Mark and Lexie bringing Alex’s body into a conference room. Alex can’t be moved because he’s losing too much blood; there was no exit wound for his injury. “I’m going to kick that guy’s a– when I see him,” Alex says through gritted teeth.

Cristina and Meredith wander through the hospital (come on!) on their way to find Derek to finally tell him the good news. Mer says that Cris will be the godmother to their child, meaning if Mer and Der die, Cris has to take care of the baby. “I have to admit, I kind of hope you and Derek die just a little bit,” says Cris. Seriously? Derek finds them, pushing them into a storage closet before revealing that there’s a shooter loose in the hospital.

Mary can tell something is wrong with Dr. Bailey, though just as she’s questioning her, Dr. Percy comes rushing in. He reveals that there’s a shooter in the hospital and that he’s on their floor. Bailey peeks into the hallway to see Gary kill a security guard. She instructs Percy to hide in the bathroom and Mary to play dead as she jumps under the bed to hide.

Gary comes in their room and loses it further at the sight of Mary’s seemingly dead body. He hears Percy in the bathroom and asks him if he’s a surgeon. Next lesson of the day: Don’t say yes to that question! He shoots him in the stomach, and then pulls Bailey from beneath the bed. Thankfully Bailey learned today’s lesson and says she’s a nurse. Gary reloads his gun and apologizes for the mess before walking out.

As Lexie and Mark work on Alex, he screams out in pain. Mark tells her to shut him up, but her shushing doesn’t work. She finally sticks gauze in his mouth to damper the screams from attracting the gunman’s attention. Lexie later volunteers to get Alex blood for a transfusion, sending her into the dangerous hallways of Seattle Grace.

Back at the peds wing, Arizona calls Callie out for being rude to her. Callie retorts that she tried to be her friend, but she’d rather hate her guts instead. Arizona says she’s not the bad guy and that Callie may just be in love with love, and never actually loved her. They’re interrupted by Arizona’s appendicitis patient, who will need surgery immediately.

Bailey enlists Mary’s help with trying to treat Dr. Percy. Bailey suddenly notices water on the gauze she just put on the wound. “Dr. Bailey, you’re crying,” Mary says. (Chandra Wilson is amazing!) “We’re all going to fine,” Bailey says, but Percy pleads with her to be honest with him. She says he’s not going to die, but even I’m starting to get worried here.

Still being stuck in the storage room is about to be a problem for Cristina and Meredith, who says that she’s been suffering morning sickness around this same time every day. Cris sees the shooter going down the hallway and figures out that he’s hunting for Derek. Cue Mer puking.

The moment we’ve been dreading: Gary has finally found Derek on the cat walk. Derek tries to explain to him that everyone makes mistakes, that Derek knows Gary is actually a good man. All the while, Meredith and Cristina look on from across the hospital, with the latter holding Mer back.

Finally, Gary lowers his gun and we breathe a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, April has the worst timing ever as she runs out of Derek’s office, elated that he’s OK. Gary takes this opportunity to shoot Derek in the chest.

The second hour opens on April rattling off her life story in hopes that Gary will not shoot her as well. Gary tells her to run, leaving Derek to bleed out on the cat walk. The gunman also has to make his exit as he sees the SWAT team enter the hospital.

Meanwhile, Cristina tries to keep Meredith in the storage room, but you can’t keep a wife from her hubby. She forcefully knocks Cris out of the way before running into the dangerous halls.

Speaking of, Teddy notes that it’s ridiculous that she and Owen have survived wars and now they have to worry about a gunman in their hospital. She also says that Owen loves both she and Cristina and he must choose, but he declines, saying he’s choosing neither.

As Richard yells at the police for not having enough information, various 911 calls come in from Miranda, Owen, Mark, and Cristina, who exclaim that Derek has been shot. As Meredith is trying to keep Derek conscious, Cris says that Derek is going to need surgery. Enlisting April’s help, they move Derek down to the O.R.

Lexie comes face-to-face with Gary while getting blood and supplies for Alex. She’s one of the few doctors who actually knows who he is. He reveals that his original plan was to only kill Derek, Richard and Lexie. Before he can shoot her, a SWAT team member shoots him in the chest, beckoning Lexie to run. When she makes it back to the room, she blames herself for Alex being shot and says that she loves him, much to Mark’s dismay.

As Callie and Arizona treat the appendicitis patient, Gary enters the pediatrics wing. To stop Gary from harming anyone, Callie offers him bandages and asks him to leave. (Could anyone tell what Arizona was whispering while using her body as a shield over her patient?) Callie calms the patient by saying Arizona is the best doctor to fix her up, and the ice thaws between the two.

Derek promises Mer he’s not going to die, as Cris and April go on the hunt to find Teddy. After Cris calms April down, they find Jackson, who decides that Cristina will have to operate on Derek. Cris tells Mer she’s not allowed in the surgery, enlisting April’s help to keep Mer in check.

Delusional from his loss of blood, Alex thinks Lexie is actually Izzie and begs her not to leave him again. Thankfully, SWAT shows up and is able to clear them out of the hospital.

Owen and Teddy make it out of the hospital with their patient, just as Richard finds a way of getting back in. After being patted down, Teddy realizes defeat in her relationship with Owen, and urges him to go back into the hospital to get his girl.

Meredith tells April that she’s not allowed to cry over Derek, that it took her forever to find love and concede to opening her heart to someone. “Reed was my best friend. She died today,” April says as Mer takes her hand.

Back to Percy, who has no chance of living if he doesn’t get to an O.R. Bailey and Mary drag him to the elevator, but SWAT has already shut it down. Bailey finally loses it, screaming to the heavens in frustration. She admits to Percy that he is going to die, but he won’t be alone. He asks that they tell Reed he was really in love with her and dies in Bailey’s arms soon thereafter.

Owen finally arrives to Cristina’s O.R., but asks Meredith to stay put. Gary is already in there with a gun to Cristina’s head, yelling for her to stop trying to save Derek. “This is the woman that I love,” Owen says. “You shoot her, you touch her, and I will kill you.”

“Shoot me,” yells Meredith, explaining that Lexie is her sister, Richard is the closest thing he has to family and Derek is her husband; if he wants to hurt any of them, he should shoot her. “I’m your eye for an eye,” she says. Before Gary can shoot, Cristina reveals that Meredith is pregnant. With his guard slightly down, Owen tries to jump in, but is shot in the chest.

Jackson and Cristina immediately stop working on Derek, with Jackson telling Gary that he’ll die in moments. Meredith cries out, but the heart monitor goes dead, along with Derek. Once Gary leaves, Jackson reattaches the monitor leads. Yay, Derek is not dead! Thankfully, neither is Owen. Cristina yells to Meredith to take Owen across the hall and save him.

As Meredith tries to save Owen, she suddenly has a miscarriage, but can’t let that stand in the way of her mission. It’s so tragic, but at least now Meredith knows she wants to have a child, so I have a feeling we’ll be seeing much more of that next season.

Richard roams the halls, finally coming face-to-face with Gary Clark. Apparently, in Seattle you can buy a gun really easily, Gary explains. He bought a ton of ammunition in preparation of coming there, but couldn’t fit it all because he wanted to bring his flask, which leaves him with only one bullet left.

Gary’s choice is to either kill himself or kill Richard, who declines to take a drink from Gary’s flask before pouring it out. “What’s it going to be Mr. Clark. Me or You?” Richard ponders, explaining that Gary’s options are really only going to prison or living in the afterlife with his wife. “I’ve lived,” Richard pushes, saying that death would just be “the end of a beautiful journey.” We don’t quite get to see the ending, but Gary is out of the picture.

At the end of the episode, we learn that Alex is fine, with Lexie clearly choosing him over Mark. The same can’t initially be said for Derek, who codes on the table. Mary finally reunites with her husband, as Bailey tries to hunt down Dr. Reed and deliver Percy’s final message. Arizona says to Callie that they’ll have tons of kids; all she wants to do is be with her.

Cristina Yang for the win: She saves Derek’s life, as Mer breathes a sigh of relief. The episode closes on Meredith throwing her pregnancy test in the trash before going to see her husband.

‘90210’ season finale spells boatloads of trouble

AAdrianna and Navid Lite bond over being narcissistic twits for a bit, and NL inadvertently takes credit for Actual Navid’s cutesy charm bracelet. Actual Navid sees the bracelet on AAdrianna, flips out, barges into a taping of Blaze Live, and screams his true feelings in front of literally everyone at West Bev (via TV). On the upside, AAdrianna admits she likes him too, so it could have gone much, much worse. On the downside, NL is not a man who will take “no” for an answer. He reiterates his offer to take AAdrianna on tour over the summer — all the better for him to steal her away from Navid again.

Annie and Liam bond over their mutual criminal pasts, prompting him to call it quits with lying, self-centered Naomi. Before admitting his misdeeds to Stepdaddy Dearest, he invites Annie to take the born-again-virgin voyage on his handcrafted boat. Lulled by the gentle slapping of the waves against wood and wrapped cozily in a Baja blanket, she confesses to being a certifiable hobo killer. Liam takes her in his arms to console her, getting Jasper (who’s watching from a distance like the stalker he is) blazing mad — enough so to firebomb the S.S. Coin Swiper. Unfortunately, Annie isn’t on the boat at the time because she’s gone home to tell her parents about her murderin’ ways. Fortunately, Liam’s not. He intercepts crutch-crippled Jasper rowing back to shore and beats the ever-loving p*** out of the spikey-haired bandit.

Naomi, meanwhile, reacts about as badly and b****ily to getting dumped as you might expect, then makes a knee-jerk turnabout and launches into an out-of-tune rendition of “Single Ladies,” thankfully without the dance. Eat your heart out, Minnelli! After a big school event leaves her feeling more alone than ever, she finds herself back at West Bev, with car trouble. She seeks help in the only person around — the man she falsely accused of sexually harassing her. Except this time he decides to take advantage of her destroyed credibility to get all rape-y. Boom goes the Cannon!Read the full recap at Television Without Pity .

(S02E24) “He was probably disavowed the moment he was killed, making this the coolest case ever!” – Castle

No, no, no!!! Castle doesn’t belong with his ex-wife! He belongs with Beckett! She was getting ready to tell him, and then he stupidly leaves with his ex for the summer! Come on, Castle, is your romance radar really that wonky? You should have known Beckett was about to tell you something big, and then you just let the ex waltz in and break up the moment. Argh.

Except for the ending, though, I have to agree with Castle that this was one of the coolest cases ever, even though I sort of knew from the beginning that it was too good to be true. Fake IDs, fingerprints not in the system, a Cayman Islands account, a self-destructing pen with an audio message … it was equal parts John Grisham, ‘Mission Impossible’ and James Bond, so something had to be amiss.

I must say, though, that Hans was pretty convincing at the beginning: “I spent three weeks in Afghanistan with rats crawling in my privates. Somehow, I don’t think your stern routine is gonna get you very far.” And “The things I’ve seen? Trust me. Ignorance is bliss.” The inside joke is that the actor was Mitch Pileggi, who played Walter Skinner on ‘The X-Files.’ Well done, ‘Castle.’

It took a while to get to the killer, and I really didn’t expect that it’d be the husband of the Long Island housewife, who was having an affair with Roger, whose wife and business partner were having an affair. Talk about a tangled web.

But at least we got the cool scene with the mystery writers playing poker: James Patterson, Michael Connelly, and Stephen J. Cannell. You have to think it must have been a blast for those guys to be playing poker together — even if it was on a TV show. Or … maybe they play poker in real life, too? Oh, to be a fly on that wall …

That’d be something if Alexis came back from the Princeton summer program pregnant, wouldn’t it? Of course, she’s too smart for that. I hope. Still, her new guy friend is across the hall from her in the co-ed dorms, so … yeah, I’d be a little leery, too, if I was Castle.

I’m still miffed about the ending, because I was so sure they would end up together. I even yelled that across the house to my daughter about half-way through the show. And then to have the entire gang watching through the office window as Castle basically gives Beckett the brush-off AFTER HE’D BEEN AFTER HER ALL SEASON was just so annoying. And depressing.

But I did love Beckett’s red leather jacket. I want one.

What did you guys think about the finale? Were you hoping for something major between Beckett and Castle? Or are you happy the writers didn’t put them together? I’m not one of those people who thinks a show automatically dies when the leads get together. I think it would make the show even better!

A crane collapse leaves House and Cuddy struggling to see eye-to-eye on how to proceed with a victim trapped under the wreckage. As the two continue to disagree, Cuddy reaches her breaking point and tells House what she really thinks of him.

House Must Handle a Crane Collapse … And Cuddy’s Big NewsThis week’s Season 6 finale episode opens with a montage of a bloody and battered House surrounded by shards of glass and a very quick flash of some prescription pill bottles. From there we flash back eight hours to find House entering Cuddy’s office as she’s putting on a jumpsuit and heading out a disaster in Trenton, N.J., caused by a crane collapse.

House, who could care less, hands Cuddy a gift — the book her great grandfather wrote that House made Alvie steal last episode. Cuddy is surprised that House would give her such a thoughtful gift, as she is about House’s inscription on front the page that says, “To Lisa and Lucas, Here’s to a new chapter. Best, Greg” Looks like someone’s trying to be the bigger man about the two moving in together. But of course, the hesitation in Cuddy response leads House to believe there’s trouble in paradise.

Cuddy demands that House hop on his motorcycle and help tend to the victims of the crane collapse. But when he arrives, House seems to be focused on the driver of the crane because he is convinced he passed out on the job (as opposed to fell asleep). Cuddy quickly slams the idea of House running back to the hospital to treat the man, who is stable, when there are dozens of victims who are not. House begrudgingly stays and has his team deal with the operator, but when he goes to take a break, he hears a noise and thinks someone is trapped under a mound of concrete and rubble. The rescue workers check out the situation, but determine no one is there. House, being, well, House, refuses to listen to them and crawls under the rubble to get a look for himself. After jolting horror-movie moment when a hand shoots out of the dark and grabs House’s cane, we learn a woman, Hannah, is in fact trapped under the collapsed concrete.

House’s World Crumbles As the rescue workers try to free the woman, House presses Cuddy to find out if she and Lucas are having issues. But House’s world is rocked when she tells him the only reason she hesitated when he gave her the gift was because she and Lucas got engaged the night before. After a moment where House refuses to believe they are happily engaged, House and Cuddy are called back in to see Hannah. The rescue workers say she can’t be freed without risking more of a collapse, and therefore amputation is necessary.

Cuddy tries to explain to Hannah that the longer her leg is pinned, the higher the risk of complications from crush syndrome, but House bitterly cuts her off and tells Hannah no one is going to cut her leg off because the rescue workers will have to try harder to figure out how to safely free her. Clearly, there’s some pent-up aggression there toward Cuddy in light of her pending nuptials. Hannah obviously likes House’s anti-amputation stance more, so the rescue team continues their efforts.

Back at the hospital, the team is trying to get to the bottom of the crane operator’s symptoms, and Thirteen shows up late with the excuse that she was at physical therapy. Neither Taub nor I, am buying it. When Taub catches her leaving a note on House’s desk later on asking for time off, it’s pretty clear that Taub and I are extremely sharp people.

House tries to return to his team and the crane operator, but Cuddy runs over and tells him Hannah is having a panic attack and only House can calm her down. House turns off his motorcycle and heads back to help. He and Hannah get in a deep conversation as they begin to talk about God and how she thought only good things happen to good people. House tells her he tried to be one of those good people and isn’t so sure that’s how things work.

House Experiences a Different Kind of Light Bulb MomentThe rescue workers try a new tactic to remove Hannah, but their attempt results in a huge collapse under the rubble. House and the rescue worker are OK, but Hannah’s lung collapses. When they finally get her stabilized, Cuddy tries to tell House that the only option to save her is amputation. “Really, because I think I’m the only one here who knows what a leg is worth,” House barks. Cuddy then tells House not to put Hannah’s life at stake just to get back at her, and that’s when things between the two really get heated. House calls her a pathetic narcissist, amongst other things, and Cuddy goes for the low blow with, “I don’t love you.” But Cuddy finally reaches her breaking point when she tells House she’s done with him. “I’m moving on, Wilson’s moving on, and you? You’ve got nothing.” Ouch.

As Cuddy goes on her own to try to rationalize a leg amputation with Hannah, House, having really heard Cuddy’s words, joins them and tells Hannah the story about his bum leg. He recounts how he had a blood clot and the doctors wanted to amputate, but he instead opted for a risky operation in which he almost died. He tells her that even though they saved his leg after cutting out a big chunk of muscle, he wishes they hadn’t because he’s now in pain everyday. “It changed me. Made me a harder person — a worse person. Now I’m all alone. You don’t want to be like me,” House says. Hannah finally agrees and House takes her hand in a truly touching moment before performing the amputation.

House’s Downward Spiral Comes to a HeadFollowing the removal of Hannah’s leg (which was not shown but still managed to make my stomach turn from the sawing noise and screaming), House jumps in the ambulance with her without saying a word to Cuddy. But on the way, Hannah can’t breathe and House thinks it’s a clot in her lung that happened because he “waited too long.” Unfortunately, House is wrong. It’s a fat embolism from the amputation, and there’s nothing that can be done. He and Hannah just look at each other, almost as though he’s apologizing. They arrive at the hospital and as the House’s team arrives to help, they find Hannah is dead.

Foreman tries to console the visibly despondent House by telling him there’s no way to prevent a fat embolism. “That’s the point. I did everything right; she died any way,” House screams at Foreman. (Kind of like how he’s been doing everything Dr. Nolan has been telling him to do and he’s still miserable and alone?) Foreman tells him he shouldn’t be alone in this state of mind and House tells him, “as and employee,” to get out of his way.

As House returns to his apartment, we finally catch up with the first scene of the episode. House looks at himself in the bathroom mirror, thinks of Hannah in her final moments, rips the mirror off the wall, and tosses it aside to reveal a hole in the wall containing two bottles of persecription medication.

Just as House is about to take the drugs, in walks Cuddy, still in her scrubs. House asks if she’s there to stop him from popping the pills, and she says it’s up to him if he wants to go back on drugs. House still doesn’t understand why she’s there, and then she mentions Lucas. House assumes the conversation is about to take a turn for the worst, but Cuddy cuts him off and says she called things off with Lucas. Why? “All I could think about is you,” Cuddy says, adding that she was stuck in that relationship.

“I’m the most screwed up person in the world,” House sadly replies.

“I know, and I love you. I wish I didn’t, but I can’t help it,” Cuddy says. House gets up from the bathroom floor and the two finally kiss.

And for those of you who thought House was having another hallucination (like I did), the writers went out of their way to add a telling tidbit of dialogue. House asks how he can be sure he’s not hallucinating the whole thing. “Did you take the pills?” Cuddy asks. House looks down at his hand to see the Vicodin still there. He drops them to the ground and embraces Cuddy’s hand as the two continue their passionate kiss. Finally!

All I know is I better not tune in to the Season 7 premiere to find out it was all some dream/hallucination/vision or any other cop-out. My emotions can be toyed with only so much.

What did you think of the season finale? Who’s happy Huddy is finally official? What do you think next season will be like now that the two are an item? How do you think House will be with Cuddy’s baby? And by the way, what’s the deal with Thirteen?

This week’s One Tree Hill finale went out with a bang, literally, and all I can say as a devoted fan is we better get a Season 8 so we viewers get a nicely wrapped-up ending. But although one story line may leave us hanging, at least many of the other characters got happy endings.

Haley, still extremely depressed about the death of her mother, jumps into her pool and stays below water until her husband pulls her back up. It’s the last straw that leads her to finally speak to a therapist…

‘One Tree Hill’ season finale: Is this the end?

Source: Zap2it.com

We don’t know yet if “One Tree Hill” had its season or series finale tonight, but either way it sure went out with a bang. Literally.

According to Zap2it’s own Korbi, the show filmed two separate finales in event it wasn’t picked up for an eighth season. Considering the massive cliffhanger involved, I’m thinking the show is safe. If not, The CW brass better lock their office doors because some very angry fans are comin’ a’knockin’!

It’s time for Julian’s big film festival premiere, so the gang (including, randomly, CHASE!) packs up and heads to a big cabin in Utah for the festivities. From the time they get there until the premiere, nothing actually happens. Seriously. There are some nice character moments with Haley still working through her feelings, Mouth and Skills coming together, Alex and Josh bonding, Alex and CHASE! bonding, and Quinn and Clay having random scantily clad hijinks, but otherwise? No real plot points are put down. It’s basically one big music montage. Not that it’s a bad music montage. It’s actually quite pleasant, for the most part.

At the premiere, Julian is extremely nervous but the audience and industry folk love the film and he ends up selling the rights for $3 million. Julian celebrates by taking Brooke on a lovely walk in the woods and very sweetly proposing to her, which she accepts.

Meanwhile, Haley finally gets the sign she needs to start letting her mother go (in the form of a very, very scary and large owl). She also happily drops a bombshell on Nathan: she’s pregnant! And she thinks it’s a girl! I don’t know why she thinks this, but it is still very exciting!

Back at her hotel room, Alex continues her chase of CHASE! (see what I did there?) and beats him down until he finally agrees to go on a date with her just as Mia texts him and says she wants to get back together. Wow, a love triangle no one really cares about! Fun.

Finally, we end the hour with Clay and Quinn lounging in front of a fire and generally looking beautiful, in love and very content. Just when we think everyone is going to end the episode with a happy ending (and make us believe this is the series finale), Crazy Doppleganger Katie shows up and shoots both of them! Oh no she didn’t!

Random thoughts:

So, obviously the show has to come back right? Because if they filmed two different endings and then aired a cliffhanger knowing the show was done that would be a very mean trick.

All of the music in this episode was fantastic, even more fantastic than normal.

It looks like Grubbs is gone out on tour. I guess that means CHASE! is back as the random bartender of choice for next season?

Favorite quotes:

“Wait, how do we know you again?” – Jamie, to CHASE!

“My whole life my hair’s been out to get me, like it resents my forehead for taking up too much room.” – Julian

“Open with a sex scene. Nice work, Polanski. Good luck explaining that one to the kid.” – Nathan, to Julian

What did you guys think? Is the show coming back? How about that cliffhanger — do you think either Quinn or Clay are actually dead?

Image Credit: Giovanni Rufino/The CW Much like grief, I dealt with last night’s Gossip Girl season finale in stages. First, I was flummoxed. Oh, the twists and scandals! Then, I was angry and annoyed… I’ll let you know what comes next when I get there. It’s safe to say I’m on the fence, but let’s take a closer look. [Seriously, stop reading now if you haven’t watched the show yet.]

Quick fix in case you’re catching a train to the suburbs after shaming yourself and those around you: Little J gave her big V to Chuck, but more (vomit) on that later. Dorota and Vanya welcomed a baby. Dan learned he fathered a baby (…we think), and Georgina’s the mom. Queen B headed for Paris for the summer accompanied by a Cheeto in a very pretty dress. Nate stole Chuck’s little black book so he could have a rebound threesome, and some mugger stole Chuck’s would-have-been engagement ring for Blair before shooting him, leaving him bleeding on the street.

Now rewind and slow-mo: We began knowing crap was going to hit the fan faster than you could buy New Moon on Pay-per-view as soon as we saw Georgina (apparently auditioning for the live-action version of Smurfette) arriving at Grand Central. Never a good sign. Also not a good sign? Waking up next to Jenny Humphrey wearing only your girlfriend’s favorite nightshirt and knee socks, which is the precarious position Nate Archibald found himself in. Nothing happened, but the same can’t be said for Jenny’s bed time with Chuck, which happened after heartbroken Chuck thought Blair had stood him up at the Empire State Building. She actually just arrived late, delayed because of the aforementioned birth. Chuck didn’t know that and left forlorn, ready to climb into the first gangly arms that would welcome him. Nit-pick: I understand dramatic storytelling, but for a series completely based off cell phone communication, would it not have made sense to drop the love of your life a call or text to let him know you’d be late? Ugh.

Moving on, my (and what I anticipate to be your) gripes with the Jenny and Chuck hookup fit into one of these categories: Either you’re disgusted that Jenny would sleep with Bass-hat after he tried to rape her in season 1, or you’re disgusted at the thought of Jenny sleeping with Chuck period. Nevermind. I won’t make you choose. Let’s just call this bad form all around. And just when we thought the Campaign to Make Everyone Hate Jenny Humphrey needed no more ammo, it further solidified my support after JHump blasted a picture of her brother and Serena in bed together. (They were just sleeping… after sharing a kiss. Ugh.) Jenny’s story ended for the season with a major Blair verbal whipping, what might have been a demonic omen (or a severe case of runny raccoon eyes), and with parentals Humphrey taking the advice of Wise Gay Teen and “[sending her] crazy ass away.”

On the Dan and Serena front, the wisest voiceover on TV summed up that troubling development best, saying of the possibly budding couple: “What makes them actually great together is when they’re supposed to be with other people.” And as much as I’d be inclined to agree (because as much as I hate both of them, they’re entirely tolerable together), I just can’t let it go that they’re related. Bit much for me. But I doubt this Serena/Dan thing will last long in the new season, seeing as how Dan’s fathered the devil’s child. I anticipate Serena will stay Nate-less, seeing as how he had his hands (quite literally) full.

Oddly enough, for what really should have been the highlight of the episode, the Chuck and Blair storyline was pretty unsatisfying. I had high hopes for the Empire State meeting but was let down — and a little irritated. Then to end the season with Chuck shot trying to save Blair’s GORGEOUS engagement ring from being stolen by random hooligans was (like many things in the episode) too much B.S. to take.

High marks are awarded for the ouster of Jenny and the two-episode absence of Vanessa. My advice for next season: Let’s keep Vanessa on e-mail and Jenny in a land far, far, away. Save Chuck. Keep the parents on the back burner. Let Holier than Thou Dan be the father of Rosemary’s baby (because he needs some scandal). Let Serena regain her human skin color. And please let Blair be happy. With anyone.

I can’t decide, PopWatchers. I think I’ll have to come to terms with the mixed feelings I have about this finale. Le sigh. But that’s juts me. We all know what really counts… yes, yes that’syou. So tell me: What did you think of the episode and the season? Don’t be gentle (…just civil).

SPOILER ALERT:If you have yet to watch tonight’s Gossip Girl finale, stop reading now. I repeat, if you have yet to watch tonight’s Gossip Girl finale, stop reading now. For the last time, if you have yet to watch tonight’s Gossip Girl finale, stop reading now. Everyone else, onward and downward…

Another season finale. Another blind item mystery solved. I can now confirm that Georgina’s top-secret baby bump — revealed in the closing minutes of tonight’s Gossip Girl‘s finale — was the out-of-the-blue pregnancy shocker at the center of my March 22 brain teaser. But the news that Dan’s going to be a papa was just one of several OMG! moments in the season-ender (Chuck shot! Dan still loves Serena! Jenny banished to suburbia!). Luckily, exec producer Stephanie Savage agreed to a little post-climax Q&A to help make sense of what went down and preview what’s to come.

My first question: Were those Taylor Momsen’s real tears?
STEPHANIE SAVAGE: Yes. I wasn’t there on the day they shot that, but that’s what it really looks like if a girl with raccoon eyes cries that much. There was nothing we could do.

How long will Jenny be gone for?
SAVAGE: I’d rather not say.

Will she be a changed person when she returns?
SAVAGE: Yes. What happens in the finale has a real impact on Jenny.

Safe to say Blair/Chuck are far from over?
SAVAGE: That is correct.

But how does she forgive him for sleeping with Jenny?
SAVAGE: [Chuck getting shot] is significant enough that it creates some space for them to, if not exactly rekindle their romance right away, at least find a humanity in each other. She doesn’t forgive him immediately. But it’s a significant enough event to recalculate things.

So the Jenny thing is not irreparable?
SAVAGE: It’s Chuck and Blair. It’s always going to be a wild ride. And that’s the thing. I believe personally that their love for each other is really strong. They are going to encounter incredible obstacles over the course of their time together and the question is whether or not they’re strong enough to make it through.

It’s been announced that Ed Westwick will be traveling to Paris with Blake Lively and Leighton Meester to shoot scenes for the season premiere. Does that mean Chuck was wearing a bullet-proof vest or something?
SAVAGE: Ed will definitely be filming in Paris with us this summer. That’s all I can confirm. Don’t rule out flashbacks. And we’ve been visited by ghosts before.

Let’s talk about the baby bombshell. Was it always your plan for Georgina to come back pregnant?
SAVAGE: Yes. We did the math on her leaving town. We sent her away and we were like, “Hmm… that could work out well.” The last gesture I made to [Michelle] when she went away was I mimed a belly bump so she had something to look forward to when she came back.

Does Mercy‘s cancellation mean we’ll get more Georgina next season?
SAVAGE: It certainly opens the door to expanding her role. We just got the news a few days ago so we’re still in process of figuring out how it affects our plans. We love Michelle and Georgie and would welcome both of them spending much more time with us.

Dan was planning to follow Serena to Paris when he was interrupted by Georgina. Safe to say the Dan/Serena love story is…
SAVAGE: … reactivated. Sorting through that is going to become a larger story.

Gossip Girl Season 4 DETAILS

Gossip Girls season 3 is over and fans are already seeking what is going to happen in the next season. Is Chuck alive? Is Georgina going to have Dan’s baby? Are some of the questions asked by fans of the show.

Well, without giving up Gossip Girl spoilers of the story, we have a few details about the Gossip Girl season 4, which is set to be premiered this coming fall and will end in 2011.

Georgina will have a more prominent role in the series and will have an ongoing story regarding a hidden agenda. It has been also divulged that Taylor Momsen and Jessica Szohr will not appear on a number of episodes for season 4.

It also seems Paris, France will be a new location for the show since Serena and Blair ran away to that country.

‘Gossip Girl,’ Season 3 Finale, ‘Last Tango, Then Paris’: TV Recap

Old habits die hard, as the season finale of ”Gossip Girl” demonstrates. The bit of drama that sets the episode in motion involves a sleepover between Serena and Dan. Barely a kiss is exchanged but the intimate encounter between the former lovers is enough to upend everyone’s world. Little J continues to be a little schemer, snapping a pic of S and Dan and blasting it out via Gossip Girl. Is there fallout? Natch.

Nate is upset. Dan questions his relationship with Vanessa and re-examines his feelings for Serena. And when Dan tells Rufus that Jenny is out of control, his response is to send her packing to her mom in the burbs. Crestfallen, Little J turns to Chuck, who thinks he’s been jilted by Blair once again (B failed to show at a rendezvous atop the Empire State Building). The two sleep together, only to be interrupted post-coital by Blair. Turns out B was at the hospital watching Dorota give birth, and was so moved the experience she decided to get back with Chuck.

The Dorota subplot is the excuse to get everyone in one place, though it stretches credulity. Last time we checked, the Richistans of Park Avenue and their friends didn’t show up at the hospital to usher in the hired help’s next of kin. It’s while at the hospital that Dan finds out Chuck took his sis’ virginity (that’s right, Little J was an innocent after all). Meanwhile, Chuck, having managed to avoid being caught, is about to propose to Blair when Dan bursts in, sucker punches him and demands he confess to what happened. The fact that Chuck slept with B’s mortal enemy is too much even for this twisted love. She basically tells Chuck it’s over. What’s a rich girl do to get over a heartbreak? Go to Paris. And since S is currently and perennially unemployed, she decides to come along.

In the final scene, we see Humphrey, hopeless romantic that he is, checking out flights to France online, only to be interrupted by Georgina. I have a surprise for you, she says, turning to reveal a very pregnant-looking belly. Could one of his boys reached the endzone during his ill-advised fling with Georgina so long ago? We wouldn’t wish such a fate on our worst enemy.

The best part about Gossip Girls is that it always keeps you guessing and the interest in the show always remains at the peak for the viewers.

Even when we think that we are smart enough to figure out what will happen the next, the writers always manages to make us pleasantly surprised.

All the episodes had enough drama and suspense to shock the viewers.

Among the different characters of Gossip Girls, the character of Chuck Bass as the flamboyant, spoilt, rich brat has always been extremely popular. His on/off relationship with Blair has served as a major storyline of this drama series.

In the season finale “Last Tango, Then Paris”, Bass gets shot by two muggers who wanted to steal his engagement ring. This was the same ring he had earlier offered to Blair.

However, she had refused it after discovering that he had slept with Jenny Humphrey. The episode ended with Chuck lying on the street and it is still not clear whether he will survive or breathe his last.

The extremely fatal accident of Bass has drawn some extreme reactions from all over the world, with fans claiming that his death will break their hearts.

‘Brothers & Sisters’ finale: The Walkers’ deadly impasse

In the finale of “Brothers & Sisters,” the Walkers find both fortune and death on an overnight trip.

Robert gets a phone call and has to cancel on Kitty’s campaign appearances. Just then Nora calls and she convinces Kitty to let her go in Robert’s place. Of course, Kitty is unsure that rabid democrat Nora would be helpful on her republican run for U.S. senator (of which, she’s amazingly leading in the polls), but Nora can be persistent.

It looks like Nora is on a bender. She’s going over to check in on Sarah, who has been moping since Ojai closed its doors. Justin, though, beat his mother to it. He discovers his sister in her pajamas eating leftover pizza for breakfast. I laughed out loud when he wondered if she had returned to her dorm days. Luc has also had enough of Sarah’s depression. While there, Justin mentions the one-year trip to Haiti that he had his heart set on until Rebecca got her new job at another produce company after Ojai closed down. I still think it’s ridiculous she is an associate VP now, but I’m trying to employ my suspension of disbelief in this case. Wish me luck.

Saul is tested
This morning, the gays are roosting over at the Ojai House. Scotty and Saul and prepping a test menu for the restaurant they’re opening in a month’s time. As they’re appreciating the amazing fruits (pun intended) that they intend to stock at the restaurant, talk moves to Scotty and Kevin’s baby. Scotty has found a daycare center close to the restaurant, and then both he and Saul giggle over the talk of the new “gay-by.” Just then, a grumpy Kevin walks in (wearing a pink satin sleep mask may I add) and tries to spread his grump across the land. Then Kitty calls and tells him that Nora is joining her on that weekend’s campaign stops. She’s hoping Kevin will say it’s a good idea. He does none of the sort. Actually, he tells her it’s campaign suicide. Then Kitty has to hang up, because guess who has just arrived. Yes, Nora and she brought depressed Sarah along. This will be fun. I can already tell. Kitty hangs up to deal with the situation.

After Kitty hangs up, Saul announces he has a new friend request on Facebook. It’s an old flame of his from two decades before. Then, Scotty realizes that the guy has been living with HIV for twenty years. Saul seems a little taken aback and he asks the guys if they still get tested. They say yes, but when they ask him, he says no. After all, he hasn’t had sex in a long time. Hm, I’m not getting a very good feeling about this.

Later in the semi-privacy of their room, Scotty tells Kevin he’s worried about Saul not getting tested for HIV. Saul overhears them and tells them that there’s really no need. They offer to go with him, but Saul says he’ll get tested when he goes into his doctor in a month for his cholesterol. The guys don’t seem convinced he’ll do that. Neither am I.

Well, I was wrong. Saul actually did go into his doctor and asked about an HIV test. She tells him that it’s totally possible for someone to live with HIV for twenty years and not show symptoms. He tells her about his old flame and then agrees to take a test. He’ll know the results in the morning.

The family that campaigns together
Nora tells Kitty that Sarah is feeling depressed and the trip might help her mood. I love when Kitty tells her this isn’t a road trip to Vegas. On the bus, Kitty and Nora have a short disagreement about Kitty’s stand on tax cuts. Behind them, Sarah is watching TV and reading trashy magazines. Sounds perfect to me! Of course, Kitty has a problem with it. Well, I guess it’s a problem when Sarah almost bites one of Kitty’s associate’s hand off when he reaches for the TV remote.

At their hotel that night, Nora is hell-bent on keeping Sarah positive. She has banned her from TV and ordered her to have a facial night with her. Meanwhile, Kitty is trying to get work done and discovers that an online site accuses her of using Robert’s jet for campaigning. Nora is up at arms at the idea, but Kitty says she won’t even respond to the accusation.

The next morning, the women wake up after what seems like the most drunken facial party anyone’s ever had. Then Kitty gets a phone call telling her to check out the online site. Over the night, someone left a comment there, who knew exactly what Kitty spent on the wig she wore during chemotherapy. While Nora admits she left a comment, she didn’t know the cost of Kitty’s wig, so it couldn’t have been her. Someone is gunning for her and Kitty doesn’t know who it is. I’m sure Robert could tell her, though. Right?

Robert, man of mystery
When we next see Robert, he’s having a screaming match with the man who hired him to get evidence against Stanton. In the last episode, Stanton told Robert that he would ruin Kitty’s campaign if he turned over the evidence against him to the government. Now, Robert’s boss wants it, but he refuses to endanger Kitty’s campaign.

Later that night, Robert calls Justin over to his place. Upon arrival, Justin sees a prescription bottle on the dresser and checks it out. Robert then tells him that he’s the only one he can trust and gives him a key that opens a safe deposit box. He tells Justin that they’re the only ones who have access to the box. He then tells Justin that when he figures out what he wants to do with the box’s contents, he’ll tell him. But… he also says that if anything happens to him, he should give the contents of the box to Kitty and let her make the decision. Wow. Ominous, much, Robert?

The next day, Justin and Rebecca are driving. He’s on the phone with a professor presumably asking about Robert’s prescription pills, which he finds out are linked to some kind of ventricular illness, which seems to alarm Justin. When he gets off the phone, he tells her the call was for school when she asks. Then, Rebecca tells him that maybe they should both be able to do their own thing. She should take the job and he should go to Haiti. When he protests, she drops a bomb. She accepted the job already. He goes ballistic and tells her he won’t go to Haiti then and she has gotten what she wanted. Honestly, I didn’t think it was a bad idea at first. But, then I thought their relationship isn’t exactly great right now and I’m not sure it will survive a year apart from each other. What do you think?

Drama is on the menu
The entire Walker clan convenes at The Ojai House and it seems everyone’s on edge. Saul is not the happiest cook in the kitchen and denies that he’s thinking about the HIV discussion. Justin wants to confront Robert on the medication, but Kitty pulls him away to talk. Then, Justin shuts Rebecca up when Nora asks about her job. Awkward.

Outside, Kitty tells Robert about the online site. She has tried to track the group behind them, but they’re not a registered lobbying group. She fears someone has it out for her and doesn’t know who or why. Instead of telling her the truth, Robert says it’s just because she’s winning the polls right now. Kitty doesn’t seem convinced, though. She then feels a moment of weakness as she wonders if she really can hold the office. What if her cancer came back, she wonders. Robert tells her not to go there and that the day’s drama is just getting to her.

Back in the kitchen, Saul is still rubbing everyone wrong. When Kevin makes a joke about him, Saul goes off. He tells them that they don’t understand what life was like for him as a gay man. They have their domestic partnership, a baby on the way and their yearly HIV tests. He was afraid he’d get beaten up if he walked into a gay bar. And he saw people die from AIDS. All this comfort level around homosexuality is hard for him and now he has to confront the possibility that he has HIV himself. He then storms out of the house passing Kitty and Robert outside. Kitty goes in and Nora wonders where Saul is going and wants to follow. Sarah stops her, and then Kitty and Rebecca go to the kitchen to figure out what’s wrong with Saul.

In the living room, Holly calls Sarah to tell her that drilling at Narrow Lake has begun again and Nora approved it. Sarah goes off on Nora and tells her that she needs to move on.

Outside, Justin is doing some drilling of his own… for information. He wants Robert to tell him more about the circumstances surrounding the safety deposit box. When he refuses, the then asks about the prescription drugs. Robert admits his heart arrhythmia has returned. When Justin further voices his doubt over keeping this all secret, Robert asks for the key back. Just then, Kevin comes out to announce that dinner is ready. Robert goes in and Saul returns to the house. Kevin apologizes to him and Saul accepts.

Inside, Scotty tells the family that the idea of his and Saul’s restaurant is comfort food meets organic meets tapas. Interesting… Then, just as the family is about to dig in, Robert begins to lose his balance and asks that someone call 911.

The next morning Kitty wakes up in a hospital room to find Robert staring at her. She tells him that she’s not cool that he kept his condition secret. He says that he just wanted her to focus on her campaign. Nora tells him that she loves his strong, stoic side, but she fell in love with his vulnerable sides and he shouldn’t hide those from her. Pretty convincing speech, because Robert spills all the details on Stanton and the attacks on her campaign. Later, he apologizes to Justin for putting him in such a predicament and tells him that he has told Kitty everything.

Back at the Ojai House, Nora confronts Saul about his test. He tells her how he led a secret life all those years and he never really let himself get involved with the same person more than once. She wants him to call for his results as she’s sitting there. After saying no, she persists and he makes the call. Tearfully, he tells her he’s fine. Just then, Sarah runs out and tells Nora that Holly called and they have to get over to Narrow Lake.

Ojai Foods Water
When they get there, water is bursting out of the ground. Holly happily informs them that they’re in the water business. Their drillers tell them it’s the deepest one they’ve ever found. I love when Nora wondered how much they were wasting! Hah. Sarah is ecstatic and they all go dancing in their new fountain of money.

On the road again
Afterward, everyone loads back into their cars for the drive back to the city. Justin catches Rebecca inside and they agree to support each other with whatever they want to do.

In the car ride home, Kitty and Robert agree that he should release the tapes and Stanton is in for a fight. He should have never mentioned her wig, Kitty says, because that pissed her off. Hah!

Then Holly calls Rebecca to tell her that she and Nora think they should revisit having their wedding in Hawaii. Money changes everything, huh? The phone cuts off before they can tell her that they’ll think about a wedding in Hawaii.

Suddenly, Rebecca and Justin drive right into the scene of a horrific multi-car accident and they soon discover their family members are in the melee. Many of the Walker family are left in bad condition. Rebecca finds Holly unresponsive and bleeding. And Kitty gets a few last words with Robert as he’s bleeding. He tells her that she was right. He was scared when they brought their new son home, but it gave him strength when he saw her holding him. Then, he apparently loses consciousness in that most horrible of ways, eyes still open. Chilling!

During the confusion, Kevin finds Saul, blood running down his face and reaches out to help him. But, he yells not to touch him because, “You can’t!” Nora looks on stunned and upset as she overhears what her brother shouted to Kevin. It looks like Saul wasn’t telling the truth after all.

So, here we are at the end of the season. Robert is apparently unconscious (and Rob Lowe isn’t returning to the series next season) and Holly looks to be in bad shape. And Saul has apparently been living with HIV for two decades without treatment.

Image Credit: Danny Feld/ABCBrothers & Sisters came thisclose to losing me this season, but I’m so glad I stuck it out: Nothing says May like sobbing while watching the final moments of an episode.

We’ve known since January that Rob Lowe would be leaving the show, and the promo for the season finale showed Kitty distraught after a car accident — and still I started to go numb as Rebecca and Justin went running toward the massive pile-up. I can’t imagine knowing that everyone you care about was involved in a wreck, and having to search for them. A truck had apparently gotten cut off and overturned. Robert and Kitty were the first vehicle to hit it, then the rest of the caravan headed home from taste-testing the menu for Scotty and Saul’s new restaurant at the Ojai house were part of the accordion effect — save the newlyweds, who’d gotten a late start because they were deciding that sometimes being there for your spouse means living separately for a year so he can go to Haiti for school credit and she can accept the job she wants. Rebecca was on the phone with Holly, who was trying to convince her and Justin to let her thrown them their Hawaii wedding now that she, Nora, and Sarah had struck water at Narrow Lake. Nora had paid for more digging and the company found an aquifer. Rebecca got abruptly disconnected from Holly, which made my stomach turn. So many things were excruciating to watch during the hour because you knew what was awaiting you at the end. Seeing Holly, Sarah, Nora, and Saul run through the water at Narrow Lake like they were children playing in a fire hydrant — did I see slo-mo??? — was one of those moments. You wanted to be happy — especially because we thought we were celebrating Saul testing negative for HIV — but the higher we got from seeing a resolution to that pain-in-the-ass Narrow Lake storyline, the farther we’d have to fall.

At the accident, when Kevin tried to help Saul, who was bleeding, we found out that Saul had lied to Nora when he told her he was fine. “Don’t touch me! You can’t!,” he yelled at Kevin. I’m not sure how I feel about that plot point. It’s great that they’re drawing attention to HIV again, and storywise, it’s worthwhile to learn that Saul had acted on his attraction to men when he was younger — he felt ashamed, so it was done in secret, and never twice with the same person so it wouldn’t feel real. But it just felt like it was introduced too suddenly, too forcibly. On the same morning Saul learned that Kevin slept in a sleeping mask (and Kevin learned that Saul slept in a muumuu), while the sounds of Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical” filled the air, Saul discovered on Facebook that one of his old acquaintances had been living with HIV for decades. It was about as subtle as Rebecca and Justin joking right before the crash that every time they talk about having a big wedding, something bad happens.

Back to the accident: Sarah was fine, as were Scotty and Nora. Nora told Rebecca she couldn’t get Holly out of the car, so Rebecca went to find her while Justin checked on Kitty and Robert. Robert looked so still, it was as though he was paralyzed. He had blood on his head. When Rebecca screamed for Justin to come help Holly, Robert told Justin to go. (I think Robert knew he was dying, and that Justin, who’s worked on soldiers in combat, would have the strength to leave him if it meant helping someone who could be saved. Holly looked bloody, too, but she moved a tiny bit, so I predict she’ll live.) Kitty was left alone with Robert, who echoed a conversation they’d had earlier in the episode when he got dizzy from his arrhythmia, and they had to call an ambulance to the Ojai house to take him to the hospital. Kitty had told Robert that she loved the hero and the vulnerable man who, after his heart attack, was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep up with their son. As he sat there in the car, he told Kitty that she was right: he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to keep up with Evan, but as he watched Kitty hold him and saw how strong and loving she was, he knew she would. Then, he went silent, his eyes open and still.

Both Rob Lowe and Calista Flockhart were amazing in that scene. She could have been screaming for help, but in that moment, when you find out that someone you love may really be dying, you’re lost. Sometimes you can’t yell. Maybe it’s your brain’s way of pretending it really isn’t happening. Because if it was, of course you’d be yelling. And the second someone comes and sees what you’re seeing, it’s real. They’ll say he’s gone. Kitty looked around for help and back at Robert, saying, “Oh god, somebody… somebody… somebody help me. Help me. Robert, Robert, it’s gonna be okay. It’s gonna be okay. Stay with me, Robert.” As the camera panned out to show the scope of the accident, you saw from a distance Nora walking and calling Kitty’s name. You just wanted Nora to get there. This episode did a nice job of reminding us that as much as Nora butts in to everyone’s lives when they don’t necessarily want her to (more on Kitty’s campaign bus in a minute!), she’s there whenever they do need her.

We know that we’re jumping ahead a year when Brothers & Sisters returns in the fall, and that Kitty is “single,” so it’s safe to assume that Robert died. I’ve had issues with his extreme levelheadedness over the years, but I’m suddenly glad that he always ended up doing what was right in the end. When he was in the hospital earlier, he told Kitty about both his heart problem and the situation he’d gotten himself in with Stanton, the man he was trying to nail for bribing him to get highly-inflated defense contracts. Robert had refused to release the tapes because Stanton, who knew what Robert was up to, had started an anonymous Citizens for a Corrupt-Free America website to start rumors about Kitty, like that she was using Robert’s private jet to campaign and that her wig cost $4,300. Robert didn’t want Stanton to ruin Kitty. But that wig comment (which was true — who knew?) went far enough that right before the accident, Kitty had told Robert that they had to release the tapes now. The question is: When the show returns in the fall, will Kitty be a Senator, or will she have dropped out of politics? I think she will have been appointed to fill Robert’s seat after his death and won the election.

Now, we can get to the one true bright spot in the episode: Sarah’s depression. Sarah has always been my favorite Walker (save the time she was with Steven Weber), and this episode made me feel closer to her than ever. A) Why would she look for a new job when she could spend her days looking at Luc in a wifebeater? B) Cold pizza is really good. C) She just wanted to lay on the couch, watch TV, and drink. All of that made “rabidly democratic” Nora dragging Sarah along on Kitty’s Campaign Bus for the weekend when Robert couldn’t make the 16-stop journey completely insane but hysterical. The fact is, Kitty is running for Senate and should be focused on her campaign and not on keeping Sarah from commandeering the remote control on the bus or in the hotel room that the three of them shared. While Kitty was trying to work on a speech, Nora was pushing for facials and Sarah was asking for the bus keys so she could go get more wine. I love that Nora told her she wasn’t driving (or cabbing) anywhere, then suggested they send out an intern for alcohol. Honestly, the only thing I really wish I could change about my own mother is that she doesn’t drink. If she did, I could say stuff like, “Don’t get involved, keep drinking.”

Your turn. What did you think of the season finale? Did you cry? How much will you miss Rob Lowe? (I’m looking forward to single Kitty, but I’m glad he got a moving exit that exceeded my expectations.) Do you want Holly to live or die? (Live, Holly, live!) And how convenient that the one-year jump means Justin will be back from Haiti, Kevin and Scotty’s baby will be born, Saul will hopefully have figured out how to live with his new reality, his and Scotty’s restaurant — comfort food meets organic meets tapas — will have found its legs, and the Walkers will be settled into the water business?